Dark Frontier
by Pixel and Stephanie Forever
Summary: Voldemort and his Death Eaters took over. Harry has been taken, and the Wizarding world is in chaos. When the Order gives up on finding Harry, Hermione does what is needed to get her friend back. Together with others, they take on the evil that rules
1. Dark Hunting

**Dark Hunting**

He's dead, they told her. No one survives being Voldemort's prisoner for six months. Especially not Harry Potter. Hermione had listened to their words, seeing the pity in their eyes. She heard the whispers when they thought she couldn't hear. "Poor girl's delusional, so sad. Going mad." She wasn't mad, wasn't delusional. Harry was alive, she knew it, felt it. She saw him in dreams, chained to the wall, dirt covered and starved, but alive. He was out there, somewhere, expecting someone to rescue him.

"Hermione, even if he's alive, he could be anywhere. There's no hope we could ever find him, they told her, their eyes not meeting hers, not wanting to see the desperation that was there. "Our spies have looked; Harry isn't in any of the places You-Know-Who is known to be." Lupin being the first among them to speak the words. Cowards! Weaklings! Incompetent idiots who were willing to stand idly by as their hero was being held by a madman.

_The cowards aren't going to do anything even if they knew where he was_, Hermione thought as she feverishly scribbled down various passages from her book. She was so close, so close, she could feel it, taste it. The spell would work. The spell had to work.

"Hermione?" Ginny Weasley's voice questioned softly. Hermione looked up sharply at her, hurrying to cover the open book with unused bits of parchment.

"What?" Hermione demanded. Ginny flinched but came further into the room closing the door softly behind her.

"Hermione, everyone is worried about you- your obsession with finding Harry is-"

"Is what, Ginny?" Hermione hissed "Trying to find Harry is what? Foolish? Stupid? Hopeless?" Tears welled in Ginny's eyes, spilling down her pale cheeks.

"Hermione- Harry's dead." Ginny said softly. Anger swelled in Hermione and her ears buzzed. With no hesitation and with cruel deliberation, Hermione stood and swung her arm out viciously to backhand Ginny across the face. Anger and adrenaline had given Hermione enough strength to make the younger girl sprawl to floor, her nose bleeding heavily.

"If you ever say that again, I will not hesitate to kill you," Hermione growled.

Ginny blinked up at her, holding her nose. "Get out," Hermione snarled.

"You'll get it this time, Hermione; this time it's over. They all think you're insane anyway." Hermione raised an eyebrow at Ginny.

"They think I'm insane, do they?" Smiling faintly, she picked up her wand and flicked it opening the door for Ginny. "I'll show them insane when I bring back Harry." With one final glare at Hermione, Ginny scrambled to her feet and out the door. Knowing that her time was now limited, as Ginny was going to alert the other Order members of the little incident that had just occurred, Hermione had to think for a moment. She couldn't stay here now. She had planned on leaving soon, but perhaps not leaving quite so soon. Moving back to her desk, she gathered her notes. With a few flicks of her wand, her recently acquired books flew off the shelf into an open bag. Shrinking her books and bag, she casually threw it into a bag filled it with what she would need.

Glancing at the closet, wondering if she should empty it of its contents so no one would know what was in it. Finally deciding she had neither the time nor the inclination, she chose to leave the contents where they were. Taking one final look around her room, she felt a small pang of regret leaving it. She, Ron, and Harry had spent many sleepless nights in this room, talking, planning, reading. She felt close to Harry when she was in this room. Shaking off her melancholy thoughts, she strode out of the room and down stairs.

"Hermione?" Hermione didn't pause as Remus tried to stop her.

"I'm leaving," she told him unnecessarily. With a gentle but firm hand on her shoulder, Remus stopped her.

"Hermione, going out there is suicide." Her old professor seemed so much older now; his hair had gone nearly completely white, and he had so many wrinkles on his face they camouflaged his scars. He had aged years since Harry had been taken. "Voldemort is on the look—out for anyone with connections to the Order or Harry. You have both, plus you're a muggle-born. You are a prime target." Hermione hadn't turned around when he had halted her; her expression hadn't changed.

"Let go of me, Remus," she said, having long ago abandoned calling him Professor Lupin. After all, Hogwarts had long ago fallen under Voldemort's control.

"Hermione, he's right. The only chance we have of surviving is to stay here," Tonks said softly.

"Yes, let us stay here, cooped up, safe and sound. All the while, Voldemort and his Death Eaters are free to kill and torture innocent people." She sneered at the flinch at Voldemort's name. Even Remus, who had once said it, now flinched.

"Hermione, without Harry-" What Tonks had been about to say was cut off when, with a wave of Hermione's hand, both she and Remus were flung across the room.

Still emotionless, Hermione went on her way out of the house. Remus and Tonks were unhurt but winded.

"Was that wandless magic?" Tonks gasped. Remus stared after Hermione, his face worried.

"Yes." Without a word to the startled woman, Remus stood and raced upstairs to Hermione's room, knowing that there was only one way for someone to do wandless magic, without it being a talent they had always had. Hesitantly, Remus approached the only place he could think of that might hold the evidence he was hoping against hope wasn't there.

He opened the closet door slowly. He closed his eyes when his fear was confirmed.

Lavender and Ginny came rushing into the room and over to Remus's side to gasp when they saw what had frozen their former teacher. Propped up in Hermione's closet was a dead Draco Malfoy, his throat slit and ruins carved onto his pale chest.

"Hermione's practising Dark Magic?" Lavender whispered. She knew of the depths that Hermione would go to to get the job done. Still staring at the corpse of the young man, Remus nodded.

"Blood magic is the only way she could have suddenly been able to do wandless magic."

"Where is she going?" Lavender asked.

"Looking for Harry," he said simply.

# # # # #

"Now if this isn't fun?" Hermione said flatly. "I never did get the chance to introduce myself." Hermione looked at Petunia Dursley hanging upside down, held by magic. Hermione cocked her head to the side to regard the woman who had raised Harry. She saw nothing of her sister or her nephew in Petunia Dursley. Hermione had only seen pictures of Lily Potter, but she had been a lovely young woman, with eyes that had shone with intelligence and kindness. From what Harry had told both her and Ron about Lily, she was generally considered to be a kind woman that had been respected. Harry, who had not had an ideal childhood, could have easily been a hard and jaded man, but he had always held onto his inner goodness. He wasn't bitter or a particularly angry. He had been labelled a hero by his mother's sacrifice, but to Hermione, he had become a hero though his actions. But Petunia had the pinched look of bitterness on her face, even in her fear. She had taken in her sister's son, but had not truly raised him. She had allowed him to exist in her house. Whatever bitterness Petunia had towards her sister, she had allowed to Harry on to Lily's son. But now Hermione was going to help even the score.

"My name is Hermione Granger. I'm a friend of Harry's." After she had finished her perusal of the older woman and finding her lacking. Muffled grunts and screams came from the two people bound and gagged next to the stairs. Ignoring Dudley and Vernon Dursley, Hermione turned back to Petunia. "I'm afraid I don't have a lot of time to talk. You see, Harry has gone missing. No one can find him; in fact everyone thinks he's dead. I know better but the only way to find him is though blood magic." Hermione explained before pulling out a wickedly sharp knife. "I need a blood relative for this to work. And since you and Dudley here are the only ones, well- I promise this won't hurt for very long."

Drawing the knife along Petunia's slim neck, she ignored the gurgling noises as the woman choked on her own blood, and the muffled screams from her husband and son.

She caught the blood in a large bowl, watching with some fascination as it drained. Slowly, the woman stopped her frantic gurgling noises and was still. Hermione turned to Vernon, who was staring at his wife, his eyes slowly moving to Hermione. Crouching down beside him, Hermione observed him quietly.

"If it helps, you should know that her death is for a good cause. Without her death, I won't be able to find Harry," she said softly. Vernon stared at her with a strange mixture of hared and fear. It would be a cold comfort to the man, Hermione knew. What would he care if Harry lived or died? Reaching out, she brushed some of his hair out of his reddened face. For some reason she had the need to assure him that this was for the best. Perhaps it was her own need to justify what she was doing. "Without Harry, you and your family would die anyway." She smiled slightly. "In a way I'm saving you and your son. If your wife was anything like her sister, she would have seen that this was for the greater good." Once the steadily trickle of blood waned to the occasional drop, Hermione picked the bowl up. Sprinkling the other ingredients she needed to complete the spell, she finally lit the blood on fire. A putrid smell of charred blood filled the room. With three taps of her wand she said the incantation.

"_Per Cruor of Prosapia Locus Unus Ego Peto_"

Pulling out a picture of Harry, a lock of his hair, a piece of cloth from one of his favourite shirts, all tied together with a lock of Hermione's hair. Biting her lip she dropped the little package into the dish to complete her spell. Moving back toward Dudley, she brushed some of his sandy hair out of his sweaty face.

"If this doesn't work, I'll need to do the same to you," Hermione confided to the obese boy. Glancing over at the now burnt out bowl of blood that she had risked everything for, Hermione stood and moving so she could peer into the bowl. She sighed in relief that the spell had worked. Inside the bowl was a piece of paper, a small map that showed directions to Harry. Should Voldemort move Harry, the map would show that movement. Looking over the map carefully Hermione saw several streets and names of buildings that she recognized it as Sussex. Having been there to visit family, Hermione had a place to which she could apparate. Hermione briefly thought about going back to the Order and asking for their help, but instantly dismissed the idea. No doubt they had found Malfoy's body in her closet. They had also likely used spells made to detect if Dark Magic had been used in a room, and would have found her old room saturated in Dark Magic. She felt no remorse for killing Draco. Through his foolish actions, he had not only been responsible for Dumbledore's death, but he had endangered the entire school. Hermione found it wildly ironic that she had used a pureblood to increase the power of a Mudblood. She nearly smiled when she thought about Malfoy's face when she had told him what she was going to do with his blood.

Turning to the remaining Dursleys, she winked. The blood drained from both Dudley's and Vernon's faces. "I have what I want. Hopefully, someone will think to check on you before you die of dehydration. If not," Hermione shrugged to convey her ambivalence to it their dying. Closing her eyes, Hermione apparated away with the sound of Petunia Dursley's body hitting the ground as the spell ended.

# # # # #

Hermione blinked at her new surroundings. The small wizarding market in Sussex had changed since she had been there. Before, it had been a bright and cheerful place. Magical pets could be bought here. They had all been wandering around a small enchanted area so they couldn't run away; the animals had always looked happy. It had also been a wonderful place to buy flowers. Colour had been everywhere, children playing in the street, the happy buzz of shoppers. Now it was dark and grey, filled with people who normally wouldn't have been seen during the day. The colourful flowers were replaced with plants that could kill either by themselves, like Devil's snare, or brewed into potions. The happy animals had been caged, looking starved; a few were even dead. Hermione pretended to look closely at the small pot of Devil's Snare, as she recognized Lucius Malfoy stalking through the street. He had changed so much after his brief time in Azkaban. His hair was no longer a long shining mass of blonde, but grey and greasy, hanging lank around his face. He was a lot thinner than he had been, with deep wrinkles in his formerly handsome face.

Once he passed, Hermione was sure to pull the hood of her cloak up over her face. She had come too far to be seen. She had to save Harry. Moving to a darkened alleyway, Hermione paused at the door of a club she had heard about. The Fantasy was a whore-house that masqueraded as a club for the rich and twisted. For a price, any of the whores would use Polyjuice to become anyone you wanted. All that was needed was a single strand of hair. Polyjuice potion would come in handy. Get a Death Eater's hair, sneak into where Harry was being held without notice. The only problem would be the Dark Mark. Unlike most tattoos, scars, or other distinguishing marks, the Dark Mark wouldn't be part of the transformation. And only Voldemort knew the spell to put the Dark Mark on human flesh.

"I only need it temporarily," Hermione muttered to herself. "I could–" The door to The Fantasy slammed open, nearly hitting Hermione as a woman staggered out. Hermione whipped out her wand, ready to defend herself if necessary. The woman turned, her hair sticking wildly out to the side, her face covered in a bruise. She looked familiar, but under the bruise and swollen cheek, Hermione couldn't place her.

When woman spotted Hermione, she stared at her for several long moments.

"Granger." Startled, Hermione looked closer at the woman to finally to be finally hit by recognition.

"Pansy?" The two women stared, dumbfounded, before realisation hit Hermione.

Her face lit up into a smile. "Pansy, you don't know how delighted I am to see you. _**Stupefy**__!__**" **_Kneeling down next to Pansy, Hermione looked into her former classmate's scared eyes. After she had stunned the girl, Hermione had pulled Pansy further into the alley so they wouldn't be interrupted. She had then_ enervated_ the girl and silenced her.

_**There would be a lot of screaming**_.

**A/N:**

And so ends Chapter One.

I have had this saved away for some time, but haven't released it for reasons related to my other stories. Oddly enough, Chapter Two is already written, and I am currently working on Chapter Three. Chapter Two will not be released until I have completed several other stories first. Expect a wait of about 2 weeks…

Thanks go to DarkGoddess2002 for allowing me to use her story "Chilling" for some of this fic. If you don't believe me, then you can PM her yourselves.

Pixel And Stephanie Forever


	2. Dark Discoveries

**Dark Discoveries**

Pulling out the knife she had used to kill Harry's aunt out of her pack, then moved back to Pansy and pulled her sleeve up to show her Dark Mark. Letting out a shallow breath of relief, Hermione actually smiled.

"Thank Merlin. I was afraid Voldemort realized just how stupid you were and didn't give you the mark." Pressing the blade to the edge of the Dark Mark, she once again looked into Pansy's eyes. "This is going to hurt you a lot more than it's going to hurt me." With that, Hermione painstakingly started to cut the Dark Mark from Pansy's arm. Although silenced Hermione could see as Pansy's face contorted in agony. She was screaming silently, her eyes wide with horror. There were times that Hermione would swear that she could hear Pansy in her head, begging for mercy. For a moment Hermione paused in her cutting to look into the dark eyes of a woman begging for live. Closing her eyes Hermione summoned a picture of Harry, as she had seen him in her dreams. Filthy, brusied, and bleeding. She could see his eyes devoid of hope, even as she knew he was screaming for someone to save him, long after he thought no one would come for him. Rage swollowed any pity she had for the woman before her. Who knew how many people had suffered under her wand. Pansy had always showed a tendency to pick on those weaker than herself. Her resolve set Hermione started to cut once again. Sweat dotted Hermione's forehead she continued to cut. It was taking longer than she thought. Skin had more resistance, there was more blood. Hermione paused for a moment to work a kink out of her shoulder and looked at her victim for a moment. Hermione frowned, Pansy should be in shock by now. But she was still awake and screaming in silent pain.

"Drugs Pansy?" Hermione asked, coming to the only conclusion she could think of. Hermione checked to make sure she wasn't cutting the mark too shallowly. Seeing that she hadn't she pressed blade to skin once more. "I thought a good Pureblood girl like you wouldn't go near drugs. I guess this goes to show that Purebloods aren't really any better than muggles." Hermione commented after a few minutes as she finally finished the skull. Now she had to do around the snake, which would be much trickier. "Voldemort and his followers seem to think they are so much better than muggles. But really, when you look at it with an open mind, you see that we are very much the same. We all want the same things. Comfort, love, safety. To be Happy. You and I are a lot alike, Pansy. I think I know why you joined the Death Eaters. You wanted Draco. In some twisted way you love him. One of the reasons I joined the Order is because of Harry." Hermione looked over at Pansy. "The only difference between us—I'm doing what I'm doing to save someone," Hermione said softly.

Hermione worked silently for the next few minutes before she finished cutting away the Mark completely. Standing, she watched dispassionately as the last of the blood dripped away from the severed skin. Looking back at Pansy, she could see there was a gaping wound on Pansy's forearm where her Mark had been. Her head was lolling to the side, her eyes wide and glassy. Hermione thought for a moment that she had finally succumbed to blood loss, but Pansy was still breathing shallowly. Carefully placing the tattoo on her own arm, she muttered a few spells until the skin baring the tattoo looked like it had always been hers. Grimacing at the gruesome thing, she hastily pulled her sleeve down. Considering using the Avada Kedavra but decided against it. She didn't need to waste the energy killing someone who was going to die soon.

"You won't live more than an hour," Hermione said to Pansy, knowing she couldn't hear her. "Thanks for all your help. But before I leave," Hermione bent down and ripped out a large hunk of hair. Making her way out of the alley, she went to the door that she had nearly been hit with. Taking a deep breath, she opened it and went in. The first thing Hermione noticed was the cloying scent of heavy perfume that did little to cover the smell of stale sweat, sex, alcohol, and smoke. Apparently, pureblood bigots they may be, they saw nothing of appropriating some of the more disgusting habits of muggles. Hermione winced slightly at the volume of music that she could feel deep into her chest. People were dancing so closely that air didn't exist between them. Several people were making out on the side of the glowing dance floor. Scantily clad woman hung all over both men and other women. In the loud din of voices, crude expletives, insults, vague sexual allusions or outright harassment could be heard Neon lights lit the room up, but not enough to sacrifice the illusion of danger. Aware that time was of the essence, Hermione pushed and shoved her way though the crowd until she arrived at the bar.

"What can I do for you, luv?" The bartender asked, and he looked at Hermione's body.

"Pansy Parkinson told me I could have the experience of a lifetime here." The bartender smiled, his straight white teeth looking predatory in the light.

"She was right. For a price, you can have anyone you want, anyway you want." Hermione pulled out a large sack of Galleons.

"What will this buy me?" The man's eyes gleamed with greed as he picked up the small sack and weighed it in his hand.

"I think this will buy you the whole night with whomever you want." He jerked his head toward one of the other men behind the bar. "I'm showing this lovely thing into the back - watch the bar." He motioned to follow him Hermione, who passively followed him until they reached a door that read "VIP ONLY." Pushing the door open, he moved out of the way to allow Hermione to enter first. The room was fairly large, lined with green wall paper. There were several comfortable sofas and chairs that men and women lounged in. Hermione looked at them all. Their faces were hard and bitter, with a few looking like they would rather slit her throat than bed her. The women varied in age; most had been pretty once upon a time, but the hard look in their eyes made them seem older and ugly. A few fresh faces looked more scared than angry. Hermione didn't even look at the men. They didn't interest her.

"Her," Hermione said, pointing at a particularly hard and bitter looking woman that seemed to have a permanent sneer on her face. The bartender chuckled softly.

"Sofia? Not many want her anymore." Hermione gave him a dismissive look.

"It's not like she's going to look like that for long," Hermione said, as she nodded towards the vials of Polyjuice potion lining the wall. The bartender smirked , yet Sofia did nothing but stare stonily at her. The bartender went to the wall and picked up four vials of the potion and handed them to Hermione.

"You be good to this little thing, Sofia. She paid for you for the whole night." Sofia shot Hermione a look of loathing.

"Doubt she could last a whole hour." Hermione smirked back.

"Oh I can last. The question is, can you?" Sofia was going to say something more, but stopped. Something on Hermione's face must have told her she was not one to trifled with.

"This way then," Sofia said, leading to a small door behind a curtain. Hermione followed her out of the room, carrying the precious potion. The hall was narrow and scarcely lit. Sounds from the closed rooms ranged from moans to pleasure to screams of pain. Sofia stopped at the first open door and went in. Hermione followed her, closing the door. "So?" Hermione picked a hair from her own head and put it into the potion. "You want to fuck yourself?" Sofia asked. Hermione thrust the potion at her.

"I find myself irresistible," She drawled. Sofia just shrugged and took the potion, slinging it back like a seasoned drinker would knock back a shot of whiskey. She had even been able to drink the vile concoction without shuttering or gasping. Hermione took the second vile and put a few strands of Pansy's hair into it before drinking it. Although she had experienced it before, it felt worse this time. Doubling over Hermione, felt her skin bubble and shift.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Sofia demanded. Hermione looked up at herself, staring back at her with a scornful and disbelieving stare.

"Rescuing a friend," Hermione said, slowly pulling out her wand, trying to hide what she was doing. "_**Stupefy." **_Sofia dropped to the floor like a rock. Hermione wasted no time in grabbing the woman. Touching her wand to her temple. "_Imperio._ You are Hermione Granger. No matter who asks you, you will never tell anyone where the Order is. No matter what they do to you, you will never let them know you are anyone but Hermione Granger." For a moment Hermione just sat back, staring at her victim. What had she done? She had used an unforgivable, she had forced someone to bend to her will. Less than a year ago Hermione would have thought what she had done to be beneath her. But she had done it, without hesitation, without remorse.

"_To save Harry_," she whispered to herself. She had done it- everything- to save Harry. Gathering the prostitute closer Hermione apparated them both away. There were Anti-apparating wards around the small house where Harry was being kept. Levitating Sofia behind her, she moved quickly, making sure that she was out in the open. As she approached the house slowly. A Death Eater made his presence known, first by an extended wand, then throwing off his Invisibility cloak.

"Let's see the Mark," He said, wand pointed at her. Hermione pulled up her sleeve, showing Pansy's mark. The wand lowered. "Parkinson, what are you doing here?" Trying to arrange her face into the same smirk she had seen Pansy wear a thousand times before, Hermione jerked her head at the floating woman behind her.

"I captured Granger. I thought she might like to see Potter before she dies." Instantly the Death Eater's raised his wand again.

"How do you know Potter's here?" he asked curiously. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"I knew Voldemort wouldn't trust the stupid bint with any important information." The Death Eater frowned at her, his face turning wary. Not taking any chances Hermione used her wandless magic to throw the Death Eater across small yard. His body hit the tree with an audible thump and the sound of breaking bones. All notions of using stealth to get in were over. Pulling out her wand, she aimed her wand and cast a powerful Reductor curse to blast the door apart. Hermione was met with four Death Eaters. With little thought, Hermione brought Sofia in front of her. It worked perfectly, as four Avada Kedavra's hit Sofia squarely in the chest. Before Sofia's body even hit the floor, Hermione pulled out a small orb and threw it at the feet of the nearest Death Eater. Devil's Snare shrunk to fit in the small globe burst out, grabbing the four Death Eaters. The men screamed as the twisted to try to get themselves from the grasp of the plant. It didn't take long before the plant had squeezed the life out of the four struggling men. "You should have paid more attention in Herbology class," Hermione remarked, kicking the dead of one of the dead Death Eaters out of her way.

Pulling out the map that had morphed to a blue print of the house, consulting the map she followed the path to where Harry was being held. Surprisingly enough, there were no more Death Eaters on the main floor. As she made her way down to the basement kept her wand ready in case there were other Death Eaters in the house. No doubt they had heard that the Order had given up all hope that Harry was even alive.

"What's the problem, Pat?"

Hermione continued her way down the steps. As soon as she saw the spot-marked Death Eater staring at her, she raised her wand.

"_Avada Kedavra."_ The spell hit the man, encasing him in green before he simply fell to the ground. Hermione looked around the basement, searching for any sign of Harry. She quickly found him, in the far corner. What she saw broke her heart. Harry was naked, huddled in the corner, his skin hanging off his emaciated frame. He was so bruised that his skin was a patchwork of blues, purples, and yellow. With his back to her, Hermione could see his back was crisscrossed pattern of what could only be whip marks, and scars- some were fresh, still oozing blood, while others were infected. He looked nothing like the boy she remembered. With tears in her eyes, Hermione approached Harry, nearly crying out when he didn't look up but obviously heard her, flinched like a timid dog expecting abuse. If Voldemort had been there, Hermione would have killed him herself, Prophecy be damned. She would have done it with her bare hands if necessary. Reaching Harry's side, she noticed that he was trembling so hard she could hear his teeth chattering. Kneeling down beside him, she tried to touch his dirty, matted hair, only to have him recoil as if she had actually struck him.

"Harry?" She questioned softly, withdrawing her hand. Harry did nothing but flinch again. "Harry, it's me. Hermione." She had to get out of here. From the marks on Harry, she could tell that someone tortured him almost daily. Hermione very much doubted that it was anyone but Voldemort. And as much as Hermione wanted to, she wasn't fool enough to take him on. "Harry, I'm going to get you out of here, but you have to touch the Portkey." No response. Hermione reached out again, ignoring his flinch. Cupping his chin, she forced him to look at her. His face was also covered in bruises and open wounds. His oh-so-famous scar was gone- gouged out, leaving a large crater of scarred flesh. But worst of all were his eyes. They had been untouched by scars or bruise, but it was the terrified desperate look in them. He looked so much like an abused animal. His lovely green eyes blinked up at her for several minutes.

"Her-her-Hermione?" Smiling at him through tears, she brushed some of his hair out of his face.

"Do you remember me?" Harry nodded jerkily, reaching up to grab her arm in a nearly painful grip.

"Are you real?" He rasped, his voice harsh from screaming. Prying his hand off her arm, she made him touch her cheek. Wincing slightly when she felt badly healed fingers against her skin.

"I'm real, Harry. Feel how warm I am?" Moving his hand to her throat, she gently touched his fingers to her pulse. "Feel that, Harry? It's my heart beating." She made him touch her hair. "Feel that? All my bushy hair." Harry's face crumpled moments before he launched himself into her arms. His bony arms went around her waist. He wasn't strong enough to hurt her, but his grip was unyielding.

"He told me that you thought I was dead. That no one was coming for me," He told her.

"Voldemort," Harry flinched at his name," was wrong Harry. I knew you were alive. I would have come for you no matter what."

"He said if you came he would kill you."

"I'm here. Vol- he can't touch you or me. I'm going to take you home. Just hold on." Harry nodded against her waist his grip tightening. Hermione pulled out the Portkey and felt herself taken away. Hermione landed with Harry half on top of her in a tangle of limbs, flat on her back. "Hermione?" Hermione looked over Harry's quaking shoulders at Neville Longbottom.

Hermione had found Neville at St. Mungo's several weeks ago, after a Death Eater attack. He had been nearly comatose, with his mother's dead body laying in arms, his father not too far away, decapitated. He hadn't acknowledged that she was there. He seemed completely unaware of everything around him. Knowing that in his current condition that he would be an easy target for anyone who wanted to, Hermione had taken him with her. It had taken more than a week before he said anything- did anything but stare at the wall. But when he had, there was such rage in expression that Hermione had been afraid of him.

"I want to kill them," Was what he had said to her. She later found out that Frank, Neville's father, had been clear headed during the attack, and he had charged at the Death Eaters before they took him out. Hermione had already been studying the Dark Arts by then. Neville had been more than willing to learn whatever she would teach him. He had mastered most of what she taught him. He was good with dark magic. His anger gave him power and he was very angry. Now Neville stood in the doorway, his mouth hanging open in shock.

"You found him?" Had the circumstances been different, Hermione would have rolled her eyes at the blatantly obvious fact. Instead, all she did was smile.

"I found him" she confirmed. It took a moment for Neville to see Harry's condition, his usually warm brown eyes filled with horror at the site his friend was. "Neville, get the potions." Neville nodded once before he spun around and ran out of the room. Hermione turned her attention back to Harry, who still had tightly wrapped himself around her. He was shaking violently. Running her hands up and down his nearly skeletal arms, she tried to sooth him. "Harry you're safe, I won't let anyone hurt you. I'm here." She trailed off to murmuring soothing nonsense. She managed to coax him into crawling up her body so he could lay his head on her chest. He was so light that it wasn't very uncomfortable to lie beneath him on the hard floor. "Do you know where we are?" She whispered softly. "We're at Godric's Hollow. Your home. This is where you spent the first year of your life. You were loved here." She heard Neville come back into the room. He dropped to his knees beside her head, looking down over at Harry's naked back. "Harry, you have to let go of me now." He shook his head against her chest. Sharing a look with Neville, she nodded once. Looking extremely hesitant, Neville grabbed one of Harry's arms and forced his it away from her. Harry struggled, but in his weakened condition, he was no match for Neville.

Wrestling him as gently as he could, Neville forced Harry to sit up, gasping softly when he saw where Harry's famous scar _used_ to be. Hermione brushed away Neville's hand and pulled out a very strong sleeping draft. Holding it to Harry's lips she tried to coax him to drink it but Harry refused. His lips tightly closed, he shook his head.

"Harry, you have to trust me. Take the potion; it will help you sleep, and when you wake up the pain will be gone," Hermione told him soothingly. Brushing more hair out of his eyes, she smiled. "I would never hurt you, Harry. If you believe anything, believe that I would never hurt you." Harry stared at her for a long time before obediently opening his mouth. Smiling at him, she tipped the potion bottle so the liquid poured into his mouth. He swallowed the potion. When the bottle was empty, he looked straight into her eyes and smiled very slightly.

"I do trust you Hermione." Then he simply slumped over, falling into Neville's arms.

"Turn him over; I want to treat his back first make sure the infection is gone. Then I'll see about the rest of his wounds."

"What did they do to him?" Neville asked, his once kind eyes filled with a mixture of rage and sorrow. Hermione didn't look up from cutting the wounds open, allowing the puss to drain, then pouring a healing potion over the wound.

"They tortured him," She said simply. "It's what the Death Eaters do. They didn't have a reason, they simply enjoy making others suffer." Taking out another bottle of potion, he moved so he could pour the potion over some of the open wounds.

"We have to stop them." Hermione looked up at Neville.

"We will, Neville. Can it wait until after dinner though? Only you see I missed lunch, and all this work is very tiring after all". Both of them worked for hours, opening infected wounds then healing them. Bones that had been broken and healed badly here were broken again and made to set properly. They used cleaning charms to remove the grime that covered nearly every inch of him. Hermione had fixed a muggle IV to his arm to help with his dehydration and malnourished system. Potions for bruises, abrasions, and other injuries were liberally used. Thankfully, Hermione had raided St. Mungo's weeks before and taken everything she could find. When they were finished, him he looked better still far too thin, but he no longer appeared to so close from death. Hermione levitated him to his parents' old room. Maybe being near them, even in a remote way, would help his healing. Once he was settled in bed, Hermione smiled when Crookshanks jumped onto the bed to lay on top of Harry, looking for all the world like a bodyguard.

"Take care of him Crooks, I'm going down to talk to our guest." Crookshanks blinked slowly at her, settling down. Hermione left the room, following the well- worn path to the small root cellar. When she climbed down the ladder, she looked over at Neville, who was already there. He was standing above a cringing Pettigrew, his wand drawn. Neville had been the one to help Hermione find Pettigrew, find him- and make him give the location of Godric's Hollow. Since then, Neville had taken an interest in what other secrets the man might have. He was hoping they could learn something useful. Despite all appearances, Peter Pettigrew was surprisingly resistant to telling them anything. Neville hadn't stopped trying though.

"Sorry, but I wanted to be the one to tell our guest the good news." Hermione smirked down at Peter Pettigrew. "Harry's home, Peter. You know, the home you ripped him out of when you betrayed his parents?" Her smirk turned dark. "When Harry's feeling better, I think he'd like to have a little chat with you." Peter whimpered. Glancing back over at Neville, who had his wand out, and a gleam in his eye that bespoke a deep rage that was almost always present since the murder of his parents. "You'll take care of Peter, won't you, Neville? I don't want to leave Harry too long." Neville smiled grimly.

"Be happy to." Hermione left, touching the silver hand that she had severed off after he had tried to kill Neville with it. Making her way back to Harry's room, Hermione crawled into bed with Harry, holding his newly healed hand in hers, rubbing the knuckles with her thumb.

"We will make them pay for what they did to you, Harry." She smiled, bringing his hand to her lips. "Each and every one of them will pay."

**A/N**

**And so ends chapter 2. I would like to thank an author who wishes to remain unnamed for letting me use her story. I've added a few things here and there, but from next chapter we will see new stuff from me only.**

**Chapter 3 will focus more on other people rather then Harry/Hermione/Neville (no… not a threesome). Readers of Harry Potter True Friends, Leaving Home and I'm Not Going will guess some if not all of the people I plan to have leave.**

**As for now, I plan to go and build a Snowman in cold England! I leave you with the words of the famous Cleopatra '**If you enjoyed it, go and tell your friends**'**

**Regards:**

**P…P…Pixel A…A…And S…S… Stephanie F…F… Forever**


	3. Dark Decisions

**Dark Decisions**

Sun was shining' in the sky, there wasn't a cloud in sight, it had stopped raining but the mood inside the house was dark. Hermione and Neville had taken it in turns to interrogate Pettigrew, but nothing they tried worked at all. Hermione was currently brewing up a batch of _Veritaserum_ in a final attempt to get information on Death Eater residences and other such places. From the sounds of things, Neville was doing things the old fashioned way…

"I've been beaten, battered, kicked, whipped and nearly killed" said a voice from behind her, "And I don't get a breakfast?" and Hermione turned to see Harry standing in the doorway shakily looking back at her. She rushed over to put him into a chair before serving him something to eat. Because Harry had not been fed well, she made him toast and watched as he ate a small piece. "Well let's go and kill Voldemort, shall we?" he said to her.

"You are in no condition to fight, and he has hundreds of Death Eaters and dark creatures at his disposal" Hermione said to him.

"And we have your toast" Harry replied. His friend cringed when she realised several slices had been burnt from being done too long. He sat and ate the good toast, drank the fresh orange juice that Hermione would give to him before looking at her with a steely gaze. "So what happened?" he asked her.

"I better get Neville first" Hermione replied. She rushed to Neville and told him of Harry's awakening. The pair returned back up to the kitchen where Neville was amazed by Harry's recovery, before they sat down to talk.

"So what happened?" asked Harry. "The Death Eaters wouldn't let me have a newspaper for some reason" and Hermione could detect a hint of humour behind his words.

"Things went from bad to worse" said Hermione. "Once they had you, the Order seemed to give up hope and everything was lost. We all bolted into safe homes while Voldemort took over. The Ministry lasted two days before they took it over, but an escapee told us that the Aurors stayed back to cause as much damage as possible. Voldemort broadcast a message where he announced he would kill all the blood traitors and muggleborns. After that, nobody left the house if it could be helped…The Order is running around like a headless chicken. They wouldn't search for you as well – thought you were dead…" Harry nodded and then looked at Neville. His fellow Gryffindor filled him in with his story, and Harry promised that they would find and punish those Death Eaters that had killed his parents. Neville thanked him before thinking of something.

"Would you like a 'Welcome Back' present?" he asked, and he exchanged looks with Hermione.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"Peter Pettigrew" Hermione said quietly. Harry stiffened when he heard the name of the man who betrayed his parents.

"I want to see him" he whispered.

"Don't you think that you should be resting and getting better?" Neville asked him.

"I have strength enough for this" Harry replied, realising that he had quoted what Voldemort had said back in his first year. The three went down into the cellar where Pettigrew was, and Harry nodded at the various chains holding him to the wall. Hermione and Neville had not taken chances he noted. The rat like man looked up from his bindings in confusion.

"You're alive?" he said in a low voice.

"No thanks to you, your master and all of your fellow Death Eaters" Harry said to him. "Now Hermione and Neville have filled me in with all the details, but I want to know one thing – why did you betray my parents?" he asked, and Pettigrew stared at him for a long time.

"_Crucio_" Hermione held it for a few seconds. "Now answer him" she cautioned him.

"Your parents were weak fools. Idiots who could not see the power that my master holds" Pettigrew said. Harry started shaking like mad, and so he turned away and walked towards the ladder. When he got to the foot, he paused before speaking without turning back.

"Was that what I think it was up in the kitchen?" he asked Hermione.

"Yes"

"Well I think we know who to use it on first" and Harry started up the ladder followed by Hermione and Neville. When they got up the ladder, the pair found that Harry had vanished. Hermione went upstairs to the master bedroom while Neville went around the house doing chores. He also began chopping up various plants they needed to make potions. Quite a few of them would be needed in the recovery of Harry, but also in the make up of First Aid kits to be used when he and Hermione went out and did raids on Diagon Alley or other such dangerous places. As he and Hermione went about their respective jobs, both of them thought about how the rest of the wizarding world was doing.

# # # # #

"We've given up" said Lupin.

"But she has to be out there someplace" Lavender said.

"She is more then likely dead" said Tonks. "We've lost all our chances of beating You-Know-Who now. The only things we can do now are to do small raids for supplies and hope that we can _maybe_ get a lucky strike or two in every so often. We have to face facts – we lost" and there was an uneasy silence in the library.

"Maybe Hermione had the right idea" said Dean. "About going dark I mean" but Lupin shook his head.

"Turning to dark arts is something that we should never do, Mr Thomas" he said. "If we did that, then we become that which we despise the most" and Dean snorted.

"So you do you suggest we do then?" asked Lavender. "Hermione was right about one thing – people are dying out there" she added very plainly.

"And we can not help them" Lupin said firmly to her and the others. "And that is my final word on the matter. The only major fight against You-Know-Who and his Death Eaters was battled by nothing more then children" and someone pushed their chair back.

"I was, and you were not there" and Luna went to her room

"After all that Harry has done for us, but we do nothing for him in return?" asked Dean.

"We will not go looking for someone who is dead – that is my _final_ decision. You will stay here until further notice" Lupin's tone held no room for negotiation of that little point.

# # # # #

Dean, Seamus, Lavender and Luna met up in the library later that night to discuss what they should do. All of them were members of the DA, and for three of them the thought of not helping their friends was getting them angry.

"What can we do?" asked Lavender. "Lupin said we can not leave this house" and Dean snorted.

"Why the hell should we take orders from someone who hasn't seen a major battle in months?" he said. "He was transformed at the time of the attacks – not his fault I know – but we are losing out there" and Seamus agreed.

"The order will not save us – Harry _will_! Hermione went to rescue him, and I believe she could have done that. What we need to do is to find out where Hermione is. Where she is, then Harry is certain to be too" and Lavender nodded.

"I've been talking to a few others around here. They are fed up of not doing anything to help those in need. I could talk to them and see if they want to come with us. If we have a bigger group, then we might have a chance of getting to them. It is out duty as Gryffindors" she added.

"You do know of course that I am not a Gryffindor – I am a Ravenclaw" Luna said calmly.

"And what does your Ravenclawness tell you then?" asked Seamus.

"Saddle up, and lock and load" and Dean and Seamus smiled at her whilst Lavender squeezed her hand in friendship.

As the senior members of the Order were milling around, they had to carry out their task quickly and quietly. As they went around, Susan – who had pledged her support at once – overheard two jobless Aurors talking to Lupin, Tonks and Mrs Weasley about something. As she listened in, she heard them talking about an attack on a Death Eater residence a few weeks previous, and that they had heard from their spy about Harry going missing. Susan rushed to tell the others of the '_Murder Voldemort and Barbecue_' party what she had heard, and it was agreed that they would leave at once in search of their friends. Luna remembered something her father had taught her, and she created a one way Portkey to the Forest of Dean. Dean had joked that he owned the place – hence the name. Once they seven had arrived at the forest, they instantly destroyed the rope so as to not leave much evidence behind. Everyone drew their wands and looked to the Gryffindors for leadership.

"Alright people" said Seamus, "Lets move out and find somewhere to hide out for the rest of the day and night" and the group set off deeper into the forest where they conjured blankets and sleeping bags from leaves and fallen branches. Dean and Luna took the first watch while the others slept soundly. The pair talked about how they would track down Hermione and off their help. They both knew that it would be damned hard to find Hermione if she didn't want to be found, but they would try their best to do so.

# # # # #

"I got you some lunch" said Hermione as she carried in a tray. Harry could smell the Tomato and Basil soup from the bed, and he sat up so he could eat it.

"Thanks, Hermione" he said, "Thank god there's a supermarket nearby… Oh and how is Neville?" Harry added.

"Happy enough" Hermione replied. "He is just glad to have more Death Eaters to interrogate" and she told Harry of the capture of three or four more people the previous night. Whilst the first batch of truth serum had failed to work, Hermione and Neville had pressed Pettigrew for some information, and it had led them to a Death Eater residence south of Blackburn. They had gone in with killing curses firing but had taken four alive so as to get new information. The pair had also taken every scrap of parchment from the place which gave them details of other houses and lists of Death Eaters. It also allowed them to find out how Voldemort had been able to attack and take over so quickly – half the Aurors were his followers. Other followers controlled the Floo Network and other key parts of the Ministry.

"I'll help you to go over that stuff if you want" Harry offered. "Just tell me what you're looking for, and I'll sort it out for you" and Hermione nodded before explaing that she was looking for methods of supply. If they could attack and destroy even a small part of the supply chain, then they could weaken Voldemort and his forces just a little. Harry worked for the rest of the day and he noticed a pattern emerging. Voldemort got most of his potions equipment and supplies from different places, but for some of the stuff, Voldemort shopped at only one place – '_Mary Jane's Magical Weed_'. If they could go in and destroy the place, then it would limit Voldemort's supply of medicinal potions. He would have to send people to Eastern Europe in order to gain new supplies of the herbs, fungi and other potion ingredients.

# # # # #

It was three days before they heard anything about Hermione, and it was by pure chance they got the information. Hannah had gone down to the village to buy food, and overheard two men talk about a bushy haired girl who came out of nowhere, attacked and killed three cloaked men and then vanished again. The girl had fairly run back to the others to tell them the news.

"So we know Hermione is alive at least" Lavender said. "The question is if Harry is still alive or not. If he is, then we have got to figure out where they both are and then get to them" she added.

"Not as if they are hiding out at God…" Parvati trailed off. She had been rather quiet since leaving Grimmauld Place.

"What?" asked Padma.

"What if they are hiding out at Godric's Hollow?" Parvati said. "You-Know-Who thinks it has been destroyed, and it has in a way which we all know about. But what if Hermione took Harry back to his parent's home to hide him away there? It would be very easy to overlook something that is in plain sight" and the others went over her logic.

"And how do we get there?" asked Dean. "We can not apperate or Portkey there because we would be detected at once. I suppose we will have to go by muggle means which will involve us using buses and trains" and he looked at Luna, Susan, Hannah and the Patil twins. "We better explain…"

# # # # #

Harry, Hermione and Neville had taken the captured Death Eaters one by one into a separate room where they subjected them to beatings and repeated use of _Crucio_ in order to get them to talk. One of them had given up some information that would be checked up on later. He was separated from the others so that he couldn't talk to his fellow Death Eaters. Harry, Hermione and Neville were sat in the kitchen watching a new batch of _Veritaserum_ being made, and also talking about a raid they would do the following day.

"In and out is the only way. We have no chance if we put up anymore then a token attack" Hermione mused. Harry was about to reply when one of the wards was tripped, and all three jumped up and withdrew their wands – ready for battle. As he looked, Harry saw figures moving towards them.

"What the hell…?" he said, and then let out a cry of joy. He rushed out of the backdoor and raced over to his friends.

"HARRY!" shouted a surprised Lavender. "We thought you were dead" she added.

"Hermione found me, and she brought me back from the brink of death" Harry said. "You better come inside and you can tell her and Neville all about it" and a few of them gasped.

"Neville's alive?" asked Dean. "We heard St Mungos had been attacked, but we got told that he was killed" and Harry shook his head and led them inside. There was a lot of backslapping, hugging and kissing going around as both sides brought the others up to speed. Hermione was rather pleased when she was told about her actions making cause for alarm with the Order. The others were pleased when they heard about the Death Eaters who had been captured. They offered to look after them while Harry, Hermione and Neville got much needed sleep. The three showed the arrivals were everything was before heading to separate bedrooms to rest. Dean, Seamus and Luna remained in the kitchen as a watch guard while Lavender, Hannah and Susan went to deal with the prisoners. The Patil twins checked the various potions brewing before taking their stuff into the library on account it had large tables to deal with stuff like this. It wasn't until the next day that everyone was fully brought up to speed with the latest information, and a council of war was held over breakfast.

# # # # #

"I can not believe we got away with that" breathed Padma as she slumped into a chair.

The others agreed as they too felt tired and dirty from their work that evening. Three weeks after meeting up, they had attacked Voldemort's main supply of medicinal herbs and fungi. They had gone in with blasting hexes and killing curses, and they had killed or seriously wounded a number of Death Eaters. If the killing curse wasn't used, then Harry and the group had simply blasted them apart. Nobody had stopped to treat them, so they had died in their own blood and body parts. The only person who wasn't killed or injured was a Death Eater who Harry knew from Hogwarts. She would have died as well, but for two reasons – A: he wanted the news to go back to Voldemort, and B: Harry didn't kill children. The girl was placed under guard by Hannah and Susan who took her outside to relative safety. The rest of them took everything of value and put it into bottomless bags before going over the bodies of the fallen for anything that might help. What they had got though was only a handful of coins and some pornographic pictures. They hadn't found any useful information, but the group had taken useable and vital supplies that had been denied to Voldemort and his supporters. They checked the building once more finishing off anyone they found, getting out and blasting the building to pieces with close to a hundred blasting hexes. What remained was set alight before they took the junior Death Eater with them back to Godric's Hollow and putting her into a room which was sealed shut with multiple charms.

"Well all we did was to kill a few Death Eaters and take everything in the building that was useful" Hermione pointed out.

"But we eliminated a vital supply that Voldemort needs" Hannah said. "That should buy us some time" she added.

"But how much?" asked Neville. "And for how long will Voldemort be crippled in the medicinal herbs department?" but nobody answered for a while.

"We have to decide what to do with them downstairs" Parvati said.

"There is only one thing to do with them" Harry said darkly. "And it is the only way for you to get wandless powers without having it in you before" and the others nodded grimly. "There isn't enough people to go around, so a few of you will have to wait until we capture more Death Eaters. Pettigrew is mien, but any of you can use his blood – I just want to kill him first" and they agreed.

"I'll go and get her from upstairs" said Susan.

"No!" Harry shot out. "She didn't take part in any action against us, and I will not kill a child… no matter _what_ happened" and so they cleaned themselves up, readied their potions equipment and then went into the cellar. Each prisoner had their hands tied with thick ropes before being led into the potions lab. Nobody bothered to silence their screams as they slit their throats and allowed the blood to run down into the bowls below them. The group wanted the rest to know what was in store, and what the punishment would be for what they and their fellow Death Eaters had done. Harry took great delight in killing Pettigrew who, after all the _Veritaserum_ he had been force fed, had become nothing more then a mindless, dribbling person. After each person had finally died, the body was floated up the ladder and taken into the back garden where it was cremated and the ashes blasted apart.

# # # # #

"Wait outside" said Hermione, and she and Harry went into the bedroom. Sitting chained to the bed was a girl two or three years younger then themselves. She looked at them with a slight fear in her eyes, and she shook slightly as they approached.

"Do you know who we are?" Harry asked the girl.

"Yes" she nodded frightfully. "I haven't heard any screaming for a while, so I guess you must be ready to kill me now" and they both saw the tears spill down her cheeks. "If you are going to do it, can you stun me first?" and Hermione sighed.

"We are not going to kill you" she told the girl, and the girl looked at Harry with a new fear. He knew she thought he was going to rape her.

"We've come to make a deal" Harry said. "You tell us what we need to know, and we'll let you live"

"Just tell us everything you know about the Death Eaters, and you can stay here – imprisoned but alive"

"So, Astoria, what is it going to be?" Harry asked, and the Slytherin girl started talking about everything she knew. They went through several large rolls of parchment during the interrogation, and they left a while later with a massive task to perform. It was made easier by the fact that it wasn't just Harry, Hermione and Neville doing the work on their own – they now had help. The information was sorted out into various groups, and each person looked at the parchment they had and checked it against what they already knew. A lot of it matched to what they knew, but some of it would have to be looked at more closely.

# # # # #

"Are you sure?" asked Molly Weasley.

"The party saw and heard them quite clearly" Tonks said. "Harry is alive and has the others with him. The council think he is gathering himself a private army of some kind" and she, Mrs Weasley and the others thought about it for a while.

"So what do we do then?" asked Mr Weasley. "I doubt very much that he will just turn himself in quietly" he added.

"Well it is clear that he killed people in cold blood" said Lupin. "We will just wait for him to defeat You-Know-Who and then arrest him and his followers for murder. If we see him, I am sure that we can put him in custody with very little trouble. Everything will be as it should be" and everyone smiled as they plotted to carry out Dumbledore's instructions.

# # # # #

"We should all get a few days rest before we start plotting what to do next" Harry said. "I need it because I feel the need to sleep for at least 72 hours" and everyone laughed but noticed the serious look on his face.

"What's up?" asked Hermione.

"We need to find out if the new information Astoria gave us is true or not" he replied, "And we are fresh out of _Veritaserum_" and Padma frowned.

"So how do we find out?" she asked.

"We have to 'persuade' her to tell us the truth" Neville said. "I developed a number of methods myself when dealing with Pettigrew. I am sure that a number of those will work with our guest" and Harry nodded grimly.

"Do what you have to" he said. "Keep at it and change every few hours so she doesn't get a rest. We can easily heal anything she suffers, so hurt her if you want" and after a moment's pause Neville, Parvati and Luna got up and went up to the bedroom which was holding their prisoner.

"You said to do what it takes" Neville said. "What about…?"

"That too" Harry said firmly, "But only if you think she is holding back" and Neville nodded before finishing running up the stairs. The others heard the door open and then close before they heard a heavy thump which signified that the interrogation had begun. "We have work to do" Harry said, and he led the way to the library where they plotting the next strike. It was quickly decided that it would be another guns blazing attack, they just had to decide which target to attack. Padma suggested splitting into two groups in order to confuse the enemy. Harry and Hermione said they would think about it and get back to her on that idea. The cries of pain from upstairs stopped and after a few moments, Neville, Parvati and Luna came into the library to discuss what they had found out from Astoria.

It turned out that Harry was right in thinking that she was keeping something from them, but it had taken multiple beatings and one threatened rape to get her to reveal the secret. The reason was her sister Daphne who was a reluctant Death Eater, and Astoria thought that Harry and the others would kill her out of hand. Hermione went to her room/cell and gave her several potions and cast a few healing spells on her battered body.

# # # # #

"So now we know the location of the main places Voldemort will visit" Hermione said. "But they are all heavily defended so we can not attack from any direction except the front" and there was a tangible silence as that sank in.

"Goes without saying that this is a suicide mission" Harry said. "This is something that I must do. I might not make it, but we know that I have to try. You should get out of the country because Voldemort and his Death Eaters will kill everyone they find the moment that I am dead" but Seamus smiled.

"Well let it never be said an Irishman walked away from a good fight – I'm in" and one by one everybody opted to join Harry on the assault.

"So a dozen of people go up against hundreds of Death Eaters" Hermione shook her head.

"Well actually we know of a few hundred of our own…" Susan said cryptically.

**A/N:**

**Due to the author being cold from the snow, he is unable to do any more, but at least you are getting another 4000+ word chapter.**

**I guess some of you will find the contents in this chapter dark, but that's only to be expected after all. You should see what I have planned for later on…**

**Destiny's Current Status:- Destiny is still in the repair shop but might have her back to working order in a few days time if not a week. Should that happen, then fanfics can be updated A LOT QUICKER then presently.**

**Thats all for now,**

**Regards:**

**Pixel And Stephanie Forever – THE SAME PERSON**


	4. Dark Planning

**Dark Planning**

Susan explained that they had talked to a number of students who had been annoyed about the lack of fighting by their side. When they had heard of Harry's capture, they had wanted to mount a rescue mission at once in order to get him back. Lupin and the rest of the Council had said they had not a chance in hell of making it out alive. The Hufflepuff was certain that if they were able to get Harry on the Wireless, then it would prove that he was still alive.

"The only problem with that is the fact the Death Eaters control the WWN" Hermione said.

"I don't think it is that much of a problem" said Dean. "My mother's muggle friend works as a radio engineer for the BBC. He let me look through his technical diagrams once, and I should be able to fix up some kind of set. Muggle and Wizarding wireless sets are the same – we just need to power ours by magic and alter it somewhat" and Harry thought about it for a short while.

"How long would it take for you to bodge one together?" he asked.

"Well I am no expert, but maybe a month or so" replied Dean. "First of all I would need to know what frequency the WWN is on. Once I know that, I can select a different frequency and we're all set. The only issue I see is getting the materials here. A shopping trip to Diagon Alley is out the question" he added.

"What about doing a raid on it?" asked Luna.

"We know where the shops are in the street" Neville agreed.

"Too risky" said Harry. "But if we can get the muggle equipment in, then Dean can alter it to suit our needs. Hermione and Neville never had a good luck round here, so there might be stuff like a control crystal that we need around this place. Our first task though is to finish these potions for our wandless magic abilities – not counting me, Mione or Neville" and so they split up to do their tasks. As he was looking through the many books in the library, Harry suddenly felt dizzy and just made it to a chair before he collapsed. Voldemort had just personally killed someone, and though he hated doing so Harry felt through his connection to find out whom he had killed. He felt tears run down his eyes as he saw the family murdered whilst defenceless. He had watched Cho Chang and her family killed by cutting them open from head to toe. Cho, her parents and her little sister were now victims of Voldemort's dark reign of terror.

# # # # #

Hermione found Harry sitting in a quiet little spot in the back garden, and she went over to talk to him. She was upset to hear about the Chang family being murdered, but she told Harry that there wasn't a thing that he could have done to save them. Harry was well aware of this, but he told Hermione that he still felt as if he should have done something.

# # # # #

_POP_

They apperated to the location of choice, and the group sent out a number of nasty curses and jinxes which felled half the number standing outside. As they went inside the house, they walked past a few wounded Death Eaters whom they let bleed out – they were not worth capturing.

"Stun a few, drag them into a room and dose them with Truth Serum" Hermione shouted over the sounds of battle. A quick interrogation of their captives revealed a large amount of money kept in the master bedroom, paperwork kept in the study and their secondary target still at the residence. After they had given useful information, Hermione, Neville and Hannah pointed their wands at them and made sure that nobody would hear of the attack from them. The group split into three as they went through the house – Hermione, Neville, Hannah and Dean took the top of the house whilst Susan, Parvati, Lavender and Seamus took the lower half. Luna and Padma remained at the foot of the stairs in case reinforcements arrived. Two of the three groups simply killed any Death Eaters that got in their way, and it was Hermione's group that found one of the things they had been looking for.

"Granger…" Daphne Greengrass hissed. "You and your precious Order come to kill me?" she asked. "I'm not armed you know… you going to kill me like you kill my sister?" she added.

"Perhaps" Hermione replied. "I suggest that you come with us. We do not work with the Order and so are not too worried about killing people. I guess you know that though. Your sister made for some rather good amusement as we made her beg for her life before we killed her. The boys quite liked her good looks as well…" and Daphne charged them but was hit by a trio of stunners. She was bound up and taken out of the room by Hermione as the others did a search of all the useable paperwork in the bedroom. They also recovered over a thousand Galleons which would go a bit of a way to purchasing items. The group in the lower part of the house collected all the paperwork and every book in the library and study before going to the kitchen. While the amount of food at Godric's Hollow was alright for the time being, it made sense to recover any food that they found during raids on houses. They gathered together outside where they demolished the house with wounded and dead still inside. As an afterthought, Seamus created a giant Gryffindor lion to hang above the sky – a mockery of Voldemort's Dark Mark.

# # # # #

_POP_

They arrived outside the wards for the house, levitated Daphne into the air and then walked up the front path and inside the home. Susan took over from Hermione and took their prisoner down to the cellar while the rest of the group unwound from the attack a few had picked up some minor injuries, but these got taken care of by the medical potions that had been brewed weeks before. Some of the spells they had taken would have killed them if it had not been for one simple fact. Not only had they taken paperwork, money and other things, but they had kept the armour that had been on their prisoners.

"I see you got her then" Harry said.

"She nearly went for Hermione with her bare hands" Dean said as he took the offered drink from Harry. Harry had wanted to come on the mission, but didn't feel that well so he stayed behind – he said it was to guard the prisoner.

"The others in my group took her down with stunners" Hermione added. "Susan is taking her down to the cellar now to secure her" and Harry nodded in agreement.

"You all look as if you could do with a rest" he said. The returning teenagers finished drinks before heading upstairs for showers. As they did so, Harry prepared some food for them which was gratefully received by them as they sat in the living room. As they informed Harry of everything that had happened, thoughts turned to interrogating their newest prisoner.

"We should really go to town with her" commented Lavender.

"I am not so sure" Padma said.

"What do you mean?" Harry quizzed.

"Well we all took turns in interrogating Greengrass's sister, so we have a great deal of memories. What if we was to show her the memories of that? We cut it off at the point that we raised a wand to her, and simply say that we killed her out of hand" and Hermione mulled this over.

"It certainly seems like a good idea" she said after a while.

"Then when she has been broken, we take her up to the room and let them be together" Harry said, and he glanced at Padma. "When did a Ravenclaw become so devious?" he asked her.

"The moment the war began" Padma replied.

"I am afraid that I must agree with my learned sister" said Parvati. "Now I know that I wasn't exactly a model student, but even I know when the gloves are off. The Order didn't help to save Harry – Hermione did. Now as I say I am not the most brainy, but I think that we should forget the Order, do it our own way and find out who would be willing to join us" and people looked surprised at her statement.

"She's right" Hannah said. "I'm not in Gryffindor which means I am not as brave as those in that house. I am not in Ravenclaw which means I am not as brainy as them. I am a Hufflepuff. That means I am loyal to my friends. Now I don't know Harry as well as some of us here, but Harry has saved us more times then we can remember. For that reason alone, Harry can count on my loyalty until either I die or we win" and there was a hushed silence.

"I think she said it for all of us" Luna said. "The Order didn't do anything – but we can. We're with you to the end, Harry" and there were murmurs of agreement.

"Well I suspect that we could all do with a bit of rest" Harry said. "Our _guests_ should be safe enough as they are. We can interrogate them in the morning" and with that they all went to bed. Harry's mind was filled with questions about how he would have reacted in the fighting. The battle which ended with Astoria's capture had not been a true test really. He thought about the terrible things that he had suffered at the hands of the Death Eaters and Voldemort himself, and he came to the conclusion that he would have killed every living person inside.

# # # # #

"ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION!" and Dean slammed a fist into Daphne's stomach again. The Slytherin answered first with a cry of pain and then a slight sob.

"I don't know. I was never given too many details because I had not taken the Dark Mark" she said at last.

"Have you killed anyone?" asked Seamus.

"Five" said their prisoner.

"Anybody we know?" asked Hermione.

"Three of them were muggles – I had no choice in that matter" Daphne said through a split lip.

"And why is that?"

"I had the high up Death Eaters with me"

"What about the other two?" asked Parvati.

"One was Ernie McMillan and the other was that Fletchly boy" was the reply. Susan and Hannah gasped with shock. They had been friends with both boys.

"Why?" asked Susan.

"Because both were dying from too many potions being forced into them" Daphne said – wincing from the split lip and several cracked ribs. "Believe it or not, I do have a sense of compassion. They treated me politely if not all that warmly, and I could not face them suffering as they were" and Dean looked to Harry who nodded. With a flick of his wand, Dean increased the pain on Daphne a little bit.

"We have a surprise for you" Harry said. "Your sister was rather good at putting up with the pain we gave her. She broke of course as the others did. We got all the useful information out of her naturally, and then we wondered what to do with her. I think the boys found her quite attractive" and Daphne looked up from where she had been chained to the wall – a foot and a half up it and standing on a little tiny platform.

"What did you do to her?" she asked with fear forming in her mind.

"What do you think?" Hermione replied cruelly. "We recorded her entire questioning and then what we did afterwards. We're going to show you what we did. Perhaps you might tell us more useful information after this" and Parvati activated the large projector Pensive. It started showing the entire questioning of Astoria and ended with a wand pointed at the younger Greengrass with the beginnings of the killing curse. All the time, Daphne had been screaming her name and sobbing every time Astoria had been hit by the group.

"W…W…What are you going to do to me?" she said, looking at the group as a whole. The Slytherin looked at Harry with wide eyes. "Are you going to rape me?" she whispered.

"He won't" said Hannah, "But I will".

"You?" and Hannah walked over to where Daphne was being held.

"What you don't know about me is this: I come with optional extras. When I left I brought all of my toys with me" and Hannah slapped Daphne's breasts hard several times. "I quite enjoyed your sister you know, and though I would love to compare her to you, I would rather like to know what you know about the Death Eaters. Then I suppose the boys could always have you – minus Harry of course" she purred. Daphne stared at Hannah with wide eyes until she hissed as Hannah slapped her face and breasts again. She quickly went into everything that she knew regarding current locations of safe houses, numbers, currant plans of Voldemort and the parties he had sent to gain more support from the werewolves and giants. She hung off the wall as the group went into a huddle and whispered.

"I think that it is time we dealt with our guest here" said Harry icily.

"Drink" said Susan roughly, and she poured a few vials of medicinal potions down the Slytherin's throat. She was released from the chains and helped down where she faced several wands pointed at her.

"What are you going to do to me?" she asked. The girl believed she was about to be summery executed.

"You are going for a little walk" said Padma.

"There are a number of us with wands, and there is you without one. You will walk no more then three feet away from us. If you try escape then we will not hesitate to kill you. Do you understand?" and Daphne nodded.

"Walk" was Seamus's simple command. Daphne walked up to the ladder, stopped to allow two or three up before her before climbing up it herself. She was ordered to walk up the stairs and stop outside a door – all the time while having wands kept at her front and back. She thought this was going to be the room that she would be raped in, but she was told to open the door and walk inside. She did so and saw a figure smaller then herself but not by much.

"You have a visitor" Hermione said to the person. The person turned around, and Daphne looked right into the eyes of…

"_Astoria_?" she whispered.

"Daph…?" Astoria gasped.

"But… how? You said you killed her" Daphne said, turning her head to look at the group with their wands still out but not pointed at her anymore.

"The one big difference between ourselves and your comrades is that _we_ don't kill children" Harry said. "Almost everything that we showed you down in the cellar was true, only we never did go that far… She was the one who pleaded that we try to save you. We have had her here a few weeks now, and everyday when we gave her her food she offered to sleep with me in return for your life. I didn't take up that offer as you can see, but you are safe so long as you follow the same rules as your sister. You do not attempt to hurt one of us, you do not attempt to destroy this house and you do not attempt to escape this house and return to the Death Eaters. If you attempt to do the second and or third options, then we will kill you on the spot. Both of you will share the same bedroom and facilities. Food will be given to you in the morning, afternoon and evening. You will be given a pitcher of juice that will be charmed to keep cool every day. The last thing is this. Once a day, you will be allowed to go out into the garden for some exercise for an hour. As for now, Astoria will show you the bathroom. Get yourself cleaned up" and with that Harry and the others left the room and placed a locking charm on it each.

"Two prisoners now" commented Hermione to Harry later that evening. "We're becoming a proper little prison camp" and Harry chuckled.

"That is not my intention. I intend to win this war by any means necessary. If that means having to kill more people, then I don't have a problem with that, but I will not harm children. The trouble will come when we have won and it comes to sentencing the Death Eaters that we capture after the final battle with Voldemort. The Ministry is in no shape to hold a piss up in a brewery, and I certainly do not intend to turn my homes into miniature versions of Colditz" he told her.

"You don't have to" Hermione told her best friend quietly.

"I just want to get this over with – one way or the other" Harry said. He leaned into Hermione's body as she stroked his hair and fell asleep. She had found that the best way to get Harry to sleep was just to hold him, stroke his hair and let him know she was there. Hermione was not a violent person, but after Voldemort was gone, she would turn her wand on the Dursleys. They would pay for what they had done to Harry during his formative years.

# # # # #

"I thought they had killed you" said Daphne. "When I heard the place you were in had been destroyed, I was certain that that Order of theirs had killed you or at least allowed you to die" she added.

"I was sure about that myself" said Astoria. "They captured a few of them you know – on little raids that is. They let me hear what they did to them. Tortured them for information as we would have done to them. And when they had got everything they needed, they cut their throats and let them bleed out for some potion or something like that" and Daphne couldn't think what they would need the blood of their captured enemies for. "I just thank Merlin for the fact we're together again. Even if they do kill us, at least we'll go together"

"I don't think they will for some reason. Harry told me that he would never kill a child. Now I just about stay in that range, but you are an adult now so you should have been dead. The reason for that is because he gave me a deal. If I told him everything I knew, then he would try to save you if they spotted you during any attack. They beat me nearly to death afterwards just to be certain, and threatened to rape me, but he kept his word as you can tell" Astoria told her sister, and then she looked out of the window.

# # # # #

"I'm sorry for waking you up at this time of night, but I had to be sure that Harry wouldn't be disturbed" Hermione looked at the faces of her friends in the low light given by the lamps.

"What do you want to talk about?" asked a sleepy Lavender.

"I think it is time that we marshalled our own forces and went on the counter offensive" Hermione said. "If we were to get those of us willing to fight here and maybe somewhere else, then we could start training like when we had the DA. Only this time we wouldn't be practicing the Shield Charm. This time we will be practicing to kill" she finished grimly, and the others nodded in agreement.

"Of course we don't need to have everyone here" said Luna.

"What do you mean?" Susan asked her.

"When we go out on raids, we destroy all the evidence we were there. It seems a shame to waste such big houses. All we would have to do is to kill everyone in the house, test that the wards are down and then cast a _Fidelius_ ourselves" and everyone stared at the normally spaced out Ravenclaw.

"She has a point" said Hannah. "It would be easy enough to keep one of the homes. The only problem I see is that we wouldn't have enough money to buy food, drink and other supplies" but Dean and Seamus seemed to have the same idea.

"We have the Galleons" Seamus said. "No I am not sure about Transfiguration as much as Hermione is, but if she is thinking what I am thinking of then we don't need to do much" and Hermione nodded.

"Change the coins into pound coins. Well we wouldn't get a fair exchange, but at least we could go shopping for stuff that we need. We could buy in bulk as well which should keep costs down in the long term…" Hermione went into what people called her "control mode". That night they made plans to spirit away a large number of students from wherever they were hiding. They went back to bed to get as much sleep as possible to finalise plans.

Things were starting to look up.

# # # # #

"They struck again" said Lupin.

"Harry and Hermione have attacked another Death Eater home?" Molly Weasley said in shock. "Do they not know they are supposed to let things be for the time being? Dumbledore told us that we had to keep him under our control so we can use him as a weapon. He was supposed to marry Ginny afterwards" and Lupin sighed.

"I have no idea" he said to her. "But be assured that we will take Harry by force and get rid of anyone who stands in our way. And when we have him, reprogram his mind to defeat Voldemort. Once that has been done, arrest Harry for murder" and he, both adult Weasleys, Tonks and a few other Order members smiled before setting about how to capture Harry – if they ever saw him.

# # # # #

"We have got to escape from here" whispered Daphne.

"Why?"

"Because Potter and his friends might kill us"

"But they said they wouldn't. So far they have kept their word" Astoria answered.

"Indeed I have" said Harry, and he shimmered into view. "I promised you that so long as you made no escape attempts you would not be harmed in any way. Luckily for you, I saw nothing and heard nothing but a joke… it _was_ a joke right?" he questioned both girls who lay terrified slightly in their beds.

"Yes…" Astoria regained her colour a fraction before her sister.

"You expect us to put our faith and trust into a heavily armed bunch of witches and wizards who are more powerful then us?" Daphne said.

"It's what you did when you joined Voldemort" Harry hissed. He got up and went for the door, but he paused and told them that he also meant he would kill either or both if they attempted to escape. "One or two less Death Eaters makes it better for us in the long run" and he left and placed powerful locking charms on the door. He made it back to bed just before Hermione came in to check on him.

# # # # #

"My Lord" a Death Eater who was battered and bruised came rushing into the hall.

"What?" asked Voldemort. He eyed his follower carefully.

"I have come from the McNair home" said the follower, and Voldemort noticed he was bleeding for the first time and that his robes were tattered.

"What has happened there?" the Dark Lord quizzed him.

"We were attacked and completely overrun. They wore black cloaks like ours, and we all thought they were more followers of yours" said the man.

"The Order have attacked…?" Voldemort was puzzled. He had not heard of anyone being captured alive for some time.

"No, My Lord… they stormed the house and killed everyone in it. They took some prisoners and used truth serum on them – killing them straight afterwards. I alone survived by hiding myself amongst bodies by the front of the house. I saw and heard them demolish it with dozens of powerful blasting spells. Once I was sure they had all gone, I came straight here My Lord" the man finished his report.

"You have served me well, young Weasley" Voldemort praised him. "Although you knew my orders were to kill all our enemies at any cost, you understood that I required the news which is why I will not punish you. Attend to your wounds and take some rest" and with that, Percy Weasley left Voldemort's presence.

**A/N:**

**And so ends chapter 4 – and the first fic update of 2011 for me. I hope you all had a great Christmas and new year regardless of what gods or goddesses you believe in.**

**So… a cliffhanger/shock surprise at the end for you!**

**Good news is that Destiny is nearly home, and should be back to writing state within a few days.**

**The next chapter released should be Escape To A New World, though if it isn't then it won't be that and I'll be forced to release something else instead – possibly one of my more smaller fics… I don't know yet.**

**Well anyway I hope you liked this chapter, and I thank everyone in advance who reviews – espc those 5 from the DPRK.. I honestly have five readers from North Korea. You think Dear Leader is reading this? Be awesome if he was.**

**Anyway…**

**Reviews and PM's by email or Owl mail only**

**Regards**

**Pixel**


	5. Dark Digest

**Dark Digest **

It is said by some that we are born into a destiny of good or of evil. For those that go bad, they will cause terrible suffering and pain. Lord Voldemort was often assumed to be the worst one could go – even Grindelwald had his limits, though dubious as they were.

They were wrong.

When Voldemort attacked, they were not ready for him. People were tortured by him in order to terrify those that opposed him. The light, being what they were, ran and hid from the terror – allowing innocent people to die so they could escape to safe houses.

Hermione Granger went dark. Darker then Voldemort. Darker then anyone had ever known in recorded history. She killed the enemy to use their blood for spells and for potions. She slit the throats of people that had never been involved in the fighting, to use their blood for one spell. She used potions and spells in order to control and kill a person so that she could reach her goal.

Neville Longbottom went dark too. No longer was he the innocent person that people made fun of. Hermione had found him in the ruins of St Mungos holding his mother's broken body whilst his father lay decapitated inches away from him. He had willingly joined Hermione, and she helped him gain the skills needed to do what was needed. His darkness was fuelled by the anger he felt for the death of his parents, and the thirst for revenge.

Harry Potter. Harry James Potter. The name would echo through eternity as the name of the one who stopped Voldemort. His capture by Voldemort at the beginning of the war had caused the light side to just give in. no rescue attempt had ever been made. Voldemort had it put about that Harry had been killed. Harry's capture had changed him. He had been beaten and tortured to the point of death. His scar had been gouged out, and his bones broken and then reset badly so as to cause maximum pain. He went dark – as dark as Hermione had gone, and then darker still. He, Hermione and Neville went and killed people, killed without a care as to who it was save for one thing – no matter how dark he had gone, he would not kill a child. He took both the Greengrass sister prisoner and locked them away in a room in his home which had been rebuilt by Hermione and Neville. Of course they interrogated them for information, and methods that were not Ministry sanctioned were used – the Ministry that Harry recognised, and not the one that Voldemort controlled. He had the biggest motive of all for revenge: Cedric Diggory, Sirius Black, and Lily and James Potter. All those killed by Voldemort or by his followers. Others were killed by him and his group, and Harry's thirst for revenge got even greater.

A few others managed to find out where the trio were located, and they joined him at his home. They trained hard and fast, and became a small army. They struck at the very heart of the enemy – taking the fight to them. They went and killed all those who were adults. Some adults they took back with them to use in dark spells, or else to take information from. Others soon joined them after Harry revealed himself to be alive, and they flocked to him to fight back. Many had become disillusioned by the reluctance to fight, and wanted nothing more then peace. Although they didn't go dark, Harry and his army used their skills greatly. Several months after his first speech on the makeshift wireless set they had built, it all came down to a series of battles on one day.

That was the day that changed magical Britain forever


	6. Dark Day Before

**The Day Before / Change Of Plans**

Of course it took a long time, but Harry slowly built up his forces, and he was only slightly annoyed that it took several months to do so. Hannah, Susan and Padma had brought with them knowledge of several locations of safe houses for the Order. It was easy enough for them to be told to him as he had been sworn into the Order before the war. Armed with this knowledge, and with the aid of captured Death Eater garb, they raided several of the locations and took those that they thought would be willing to assist him in the fight. None of them blamed him for the staged attacks that they had undertaken in order to make it look like the houses had been compromised and that they had been kidnapped. The Weasley twins and Lee Jordan undertook jamming operations with radios they built. Each was designed to transmit on the same frequency that the WWN broadcasted on, and Voldemort was puzzled as to who was doing this to him.

Several guerrilla attacks had been staged too which involved them attacking low priority targets in order to divert forces away from the big prize. Such attacks included bringing down the Floo network for several hours, disrupting people apperating and generally making themselves a real pain for the forces of darkness. All this ensured that they knew about what sort of security was in key locations when they were ready to take on Voldemort and his Death Eaters. The day that Harry had picked was several days away, so everyone was getting ready for the big assault by practicing duelling or by helping to make potions to be used on the battlefield. During the evenings, Harry watched them as they laughed and played games.

"Look at them" Harry said to Hermione.

"For what?" she replied.

"They are all laughing and joking around" Harry said, "But they don't know what we know. They don't know what I am going to have to do to some of them in the next day or so" he added.

"They know the risks involved here. They know they could die in the fighting, and they know that some of them will certainly die" Hermione said.

"But the plan we drew up" Harry turned away from a group of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws playing Chess. "Most people would think that sending your weakest fighters against Voldemort's toughest defenders is wrong. I know for certain that most if not all will be wiped out completely. But you know what? I think I can live with that… I think I really can. This war has to be won at all costs, and if it means that we send the weak to die whilst we take out vital places, then so be it" and he walked off down the corridor. Hermione caught up with him, but before she could speak a young girl came running up to them with a note.

"I'm to give this to you" she said. Harry took it and the girl went away. He opened it and read the contents.

"What does it say?" Hermione asked.

"Voldemort has got more Giants in his forces now, and he is going to make a move on the Muggles" Harry looked at her. "Go get the others – we're having a meeting tonight"

"Why?"

"We're going in tomorrow morning" and Harry walked off.

**A/N:**

**I know it is another short one, but I think it builds up tension to the overall battle. The battle itself will be over several chapters and will be as bloody as I can get. So stay tuned for updates please.**

**Now I'm letting you know now that I'm waiting for surgery for something that has been affecting me for some time – as long term reviewers will now. I don't know when it is going to be, but don't expect updates every week please. Normal updates will still take place so far as I am able to do them. I just might be off for something like 6 WEEKS. Best to warn you all. Oh – don't worry about me… it not THAT sirius.**

**Now a request:- If anyone has a website hosted by Angelfire, then can you please say so –I need some help in building my webpages up, but have no idea who to do it. It's going to become the home for all my completed fics here on ff – though ff will still be the main home for me.**

**Regards**

**Pixel**


	7. Dark Final Assault  Part One

**The Final Assault - Part One**

Nearly everyone was asleep in the house, but a few of them remained awake in the study. These were Harry and his friends, and they had come together about the note that had been passed to him the previous evening.

"Voldemort is preparing to attack the muggles in greater ways then before" Harry began. "But what I haven't said is this. He also knows where we are, and he plans to attack sometime in the morning. We will therefore attack first and take back what is rightfully ours" and there was nods of agreement.

"Have you any idea what to do first?" asked Luna.

"We do the plan we came up with" Harry said. "We send all of our weakest people in first so they can tell us where Death eaters are located. We will send in so many bodies that no matter how many are killed, we will get the job done" he added.

"What do we do about our guests?" asked Dean. "Once we have all gone from here, they might have the chance to escape and warn Voldemort of our plans – even if they haven't heard of the" he added.

"We could take them out to the garden and dispose of them" suggested Padma.

"They are of no further use to us after all" put in Parvati.

"True" Harry said, "But they might still be holding back on stuff even if its not by their own will. Once we get rid of Voldemort, they might be able to tell us more" and they remembered that they seemed reluctant to speak about certain things – even with all of the potions they had been force fed. They went on for a few more hours before they broke up to get some sleep so they would be refreshed for the battle.

#

Harry was the first to awake, and he showered and dressed before heading downstairs. There was a slight mist to the crisp air today, and Harry ironically thought it was a good day to die. He made breakfast for himself and his friends, ensured they had eaten and were ready before raising his wand.

"EVERYONE COME TO THE LIBRARY. TAKE NO MORE THEN FIVE MINUTES TO DRESS!" and he started to sound the klaxons to wake everyone up. It was crowded, but everyone managed to fit into the library and listen to Harry speak. He was stood on a conjured up stage with his friends standing like bodyguards on either side of him.

"This should be fun" said Hermione to Lavender.

"Good Morning" Harry said. "Last night we received word that Voldemort and his forces were planning to launch the final stage of their attacks, and that they had also received word of our location from a spy. We are therefore going to launch our counter attack first. You all know what the targets are for each of your teams. Now I will be honest with you, we expect to take many casualties during the fighting, but whatever happens, you must keep on pushing until the enemy is defeated. You can not stop to aid any fallen on our side…" Harry paused to let it sink in. "Now I know you must be worried, and you have every right to. But we are not fighting a quidditch game here; we are fighting for our lives here. We are fighting for the right to be free. However, I don't want this all to be doom and gloom. One person has surpassed all expectations that we had of him. Michael Corner, please step up here" and the boy came up and stood on the podium. "I try to give rewards where rewards are due, so I want you to be a witness to this" and Harry swung round and floored Corner with a punch to the jaw. "This bastard is the spy I spoke of a moment ago. We have been watching him for some time and now he will get what he deserves" and Corner was bound in ropes, stood up and placed against the back wall.

"What are you going to do?" asked a voice from the crowd.

"You'll see" said Harry, and then turned to face the captive. "Michael Corner, as a member of one of the Ancient and Most Noble Houses, I hereby sentence you to death for treason, spying and terrorism. However we don't have the time to do things properly, so we are going to leave you down below where you will wait for a proper trial" and Corner was stunned and taken away by Hannah. Harry turned back to the people watching him. "Be ready to go in five minutes. Team leaders report to me for final instructions" and Harry dismissed them all.

#

"Everyone is in position" said Luna as she stood by Harry and the others.

"Send them in" Harry said. Dean raised his wand and made a deep BOOM. At that moment, four dozen people charged from the woods and at the home of many of Voldemort's followers. A few seconds later, and a second group also rushed out and headed to the house. They passed though the gates and rushed the house – and got attacked as they did so. Dozens of Death Eaters poured out of the house and started firing killing curses at the oncoming tide. People on both sides fell, but mostly those that Harry had sent in.

"Teams five and six are almost wiped out" said Seamus.

"Send in the heavies" Harry ordered, and rearranged things on a table top model of the battlefield. A large group of older people – students and adults alike – rushed out of the woods and began attacking the Death Eaters. Spells flew back and forth between the two sides, and yet more people fell to the Killing Curse. What worked this time around was that the Death Eaters were partly drained through their constant use of magic. The third wave of fighters tore through the first line of Death Eaters, but found a stiffer resistance on the second line. Harry and the others moved things around on the model and changed their plans accordingly. The heavy fighters managed to break through the last line of defence and blew the main doors open as they went in the house.

"Two minutes early" Hermione said as she consulted a checklist. Now that the grounds were less noisy, cries of pain could be heard from the injured and dying from both sides. Explosions could be heard from the house as Harry and the others left their spot and went to inspect the damage close up. As they moved among the injured, the group used their wands to kill those Death Eaters who had more then a broken arm or leg. Those that Harry knew were the only ones to survive as they had a different fate in store. When it seemed that the attack on the house wasn't working, Harry had the survivors of the attack retreat so the back up plan could be put into effect – a house warming The group sealed all the exits from the house and then set it alight – after first removing all children from the house. They would be taken back to Harry's home under the guard of those wounded enough to not fight any more, but still able to guard unarmed witches and wizards. They also took the fallen Death Eaters with them, but left the dead behind to be cremated too.

"What's the damage?" asked Neville after the house was well ablaze.

"We lost most of the first two waves – 23 survivors. The heavy groups lost about half that number. They have 40 survivors" said Susan.

"Detach three of them and have them return home to help guard the children. They are unarmed, I know, but we don't know what they are capable of" Harry said, and orders were passed on. Out of the original group of 200, Harry now had a useable group of 63 persons. Replacements would arrive after swapping for the injured, and would boost the numbers up to around 100. As they got healed, the injured would return to the battles in drips and drabs. There was also the other group that was fighting, and Harry's thought were interrupted when Hannah, Luna and Dean Apperated next to them.

"Mission complete" they said in unison.

"Survivors?" Hermione asked.

"Only the children and our own. We killed the rest" Luna said.

"Good" Harry said thickly. "Now I took the chance to mind scan a few before we slit their throats, and our biggest concern is the giants. It seems that even though it is daylight, the werewolves are transformed. Something to do with magic and whatnot. That means that a silver bullet will kill them. Have the teams issued with the pistols" and they all nodded.

"So we assault Hogwarts now?" asked lavender.

"Not until we have taken out a few more locations" Harry said. "First we must take out the Malfoy residence and then Voldemort's old place. He will be upset at that more then anything. The loss of his ancestral home? He'll be furious about it, and it will affect his judgements when he directs his forces" and the plan was sound. They would split up and take both places at once – all the better to take them by surprise. Because we have so few people, we shall have to send most of the heavies against Voldemort's house. If we go now, then we can finish this now" Harry took one long look around at the survivors around him. "We go to Malfoy Manor first, and then we take Voldemort's stinking hovel. We'll save Hogwarts for last when we can do an all out assault. But for now, we keep on fighting as hard as we just did. I know we took a lot of casualties, but the main task of a fighter is to get the job done – no matter what the cost" and there was a cheer, and then they returned to the woods to get the portkeys.

"Not bad speech" said Hermione, giving Harry a kiss on the lips.

"Thanks" he returned the gesture. "Lets go kill more of our side shall we?" and the friends went off to more terrible things. As they popped away, the group left only the burning house, the cries of those burning alive and the smell of charred flesh.

#

"My Lord" a minion of Voldemort's rushed into his chambers.

"Rookwood, I assume you have a good reason for disturbing me?" Voldemort asked.

"I do" Rookwood said. "We have lost all our contact from the McNair residence. I sent a few lower ranking Death Eaters to investigate, knowing you would not wish to be disturbed if it was a simply Floo malfunction" Rookwood breathed a little easier when his master nodded.

"Indeed. And what did your investigation party find?"

"The house was burned to the ground, and not a single person was alive, My Lord. I went myself right away, and can only confirm the party's findings. There was a massive attack by an unknown group, but there was something else. According to the magical trace I performed on the ruins, only the adults were left in the house – which was sealed against all possible exits" Voldemort looked at him.

"And what of the children of my loyal Death Eaters?" he asked.

"We found no trace of them or their wands. We assume that they have been taken by this group. They were very good at hiding their tracks, My Lord. We know only that they are not from the Order of the Phoenix" Rookwood said. Voldemort was furious at this news, but the solution came to him quickly.

"Potter…" he hissed.

"My Lord?"

"Only Potter and his pitiful band of friends would dare to attempt to challenge me. The cowards that Dumbledore brought together would never be so bold as to assault me so much. Call out the werewolves and have most of them go to Malfoy Manor. The rest shall stay at Hogwarts. It is unlikely that Potter shall attack us directly" and Voldemort dismissed Rookwood so that he could carry out his orders.

# # # # #

"WATCH THE LEFT FLANK" shouted Seamus as they saw werewolves attacking them from the left of Malfoy Manor.

"TAKE AIM AND FIRE" Harry ordered, and those students with the guns took aim at the creatures and fired the single silver bullet contained within. The first two waves went down, and they took down a pair from the third wave. The group resorted to firing curses of all sorts – it turned into a fight for survival. People died on both sides again, and Harry made his way into the fight, casting blasting hexes as he went along – he wasn't in the mood to use the killing curse at all. With a tremendous effort, they managed to get to the outside of Malfoy Manor when he heard a shout and saw a spell hit the tower above him which collapsed towards the ground. Just as it was about to hit him, Harry found himself shoved to the side and to the ground. When he got his breath back, Harry stood, dusted himself off and turned to see what had happened. Lavender had shoved Harry out of the way and taken the impact for him. The mass of stone had obliterated her head so that skull fragments and her brains littered and stained the ground along with her blood. A large block of stone was on top of what remained of her head as the body kept on twitching.

"Damn it" said Parvati. The Gryffindor was covered in Lavender's blood and brain matter. She was in a relationship with the deceased girl, something Harry had found out a few days ago. He told them that he didn't care what happened, so long as they did what was expected.

"Parv" Harry said, "Lavender's dead. We have to keep going… We'll come back for her later" and Parvati nodded shakily before they moved off into the house. The half Indian girl seemed to be a vengeful Hindu goddess of death as she blew apart the Death Eaters that came in front of her wand. Once they had captured a few Death Eaters, the survivors gathered with their prisoners in the drawing room where the fire was lit. Slowly, painfully and with everyone aware, they executed the prisoners, dismembered them and sent the remains to Hogwarts. Harry knew that he was there, rather then his old home because of the sheer power Voldemort wanted to gain.

# # # # #

"We are unable to get anywhere near the place, My Lord" said a follower. "Someone cast charms to keep us at least four miles away" she added.

"Very clever, Potter" Voldemort muttered. "It seems that even _I_ have underestimated Potter and his friends. I know now what he will do. Have everyone leave Riddle Manor at once, and get them here to Hogwarts. Let Potter and his group of rebels drain their magic in attacking an unoccupied building. Go to the forest and have the Giants prepare for their part in the war. I feel that the final battle shall start very soon. Once we have won, nothing will stand in our way to domination over the muggles" and the Death Eaters carried out Voldemort's orders.

# # # # #

"ROOM CLEAR!" shouted Dean. As he finished speaking, Neville kicked open another door and repeated the two words.

"Three floors clear?" Harry was surprised.

"They might be in the dungeons underneath" suggested Hermione.

"Perhaps" said Harry, "But we should have been able to detect them in someway. I think we have been tipped off as to what is going here. We didn't leave anyone alive after our attacks at Malfoy Manor, and their spy is safely locked away back at base. They must have discovered what we had done…"

"And now we can expect security around Hogwarts to be three times as bad" Seamus said thickly. "So do we assault Hogwarts now?" he asked.

"We could" said Harry, "But we're going to have to do this somewhat more sneakily. If we put the place under surveillance for a few hours, then it will give us a chance to shore up our numbers from those injured. And…" he added, "We can ask what Corner can tell us about Hogwarts" and after taking everything of value from the house, they burned Riddle Manor to the ground and apparated back to Godric's Hollow.

#

After discovering all that they could from Michael Corner, the group decided to have a formal trial where Corner announced he would defend himself – though he said that they didn't have any authority to hold such a trial. Harry had replied that he could do anything he damned well pleased.

"All of you be quiet" called Padma as Corner was led into the room and placed on the stage for all to see. Everyone fit enough to move was present – including Astoria and Daphne. The only ones not present were those still too badly injured and the prisoners they had just taken. The Greengrass sisters were only out because it was their promised time out of their room.

"Michael Corner, this trial is held in the name of all those oppressed by Voldemort" Harry began the trial. "You are hereby charged with the following offences: Treason, Membership of a banned organisation, Terrorism, Aiding and Abetting criminals, Conspiracy to Commit Murder, Helping to overthrow the legal magical government, Sabotage and other lesser charges. How do you plead?"

"Not guilty" said Corner.

"So noted" Harry said. "As you can see, you will not be tried by a court from the Wizendgamot. You will instead be tried by four of us. I will serve as the Judge, Hermione Granger shall represent Gryffindor, Susan Bones shall represent Hufflepuff and Padma Patil shall represent Ravenclaw. There are no Slytherins trustworthy enough to sit down on here. Do you object to any of these persons?"

"Get on with it" Corner said.

"I take that as a 'no' then" Harry said, and then began to produce the evidence that had been collected by questioning, interrogation and in the end Harry slamming into Corner's mind and taking the information by force. It took a couple of hours to present everything, and then it came to the end.

"We shall now pass sentencing" Hermione said. "Do you have anything that you wish to say that may be of defence of your actions?" she asked Corner.

"I did what I did to serve the Dark Lord" came the reply.

"Miss Bones, do you take that as his reply?" Harry said.

"I do" Susan replied.

"Then this is your sentence. Michael Corner, you have been found guilty on ten of the charges. You are hereby sentenced to a maximum of 50 years in jail. On the remaining charge, the act of Treason, you have been found guilty and sentenced to death. The execution will take place at dawn tomorrow. Until then, you will be held in chains and ropes and secured to the walls of the cellar. You will not be allowed any comfort, but you should be allowed a final meal and a last request before your execution" Harry turned to where Dean, Seamus, Luna, Neville, Hannah and Parvati waited. "Take him away" and Corner was stunned by multiple stunners and floated out the room. The watching people broke up and did what they wanted until Harry decided to launch the final attack.

# # # # #

The condemned's last meal consisted of salad, a Sunday roast and pumpkin pie. At dawn, a small party gathered by one of the thick oak trees that stood at the bottom of the garden. Michael Corner was walked from the house and tied to the tree where his executioners waited. The only other persons apart from those actually needed were the Greengrass sisters on account that they wouldn't be getting to get their hour out later that day. To make up, they would first attend the execution and then be given two hours under close supervision. Once everything was ready, Harry stepped up and addressed Corner.

"Michael Corner, before your sentence is carried out, do you have a last request?" he asked.

"I would like to know one thing" he said. "I would like to know what the Patil Twins look like naked" and the twins looked at each other before nodding.

"Make ready" Harry said, and the execution squad raised their wands and pointed at Corner. "Fire!" he ordered, and just before the mixed spells hit Corner, the Patil Twins turned their clothes invisible for a fraction of a moment.

Once the remains had been burned and the ashes scattered to the four winds, Harry and his friends went up to the house to start planning the final assault on Hogwarts.

**A/N:**

**Not giving much away, but we're only a few chapters away from the end of this fic. **

**The End Is Nigh!**

**Regarding the contents, I told you we'd have a surprising and bloody death!**

**Regards**

**Robert**

**PS: PLEASE review. If you don't, then I bind you with the curse of Mary Malone and her nine blind orphan children! LOL**


	8. Dark Final Assault Part 2  Dark Downfal

**Dark Final Assault Part 2 / Dark Downfall**

"Report" ordered Harry.

"We have the list of the casualties" said Hannah.

"Numbers?"

"Over 300 were killed in the two attacks in total – including those that died back here. We have 150 too badly wounded to fight, and just 50 of us to take Hogwarts. If we manage to take it, then we're going to need a miracle" Hannah said.

"The miracle will be getting Voldemort. Only I can do that, and he is sure to wipe out anyone that gets close to him" Harry looked over the group watching him for orders. "Lets go and kill more people shall we?" and in groups of five they left for Hogwarts.

The castle loomed large in the darkness, windows lit, and Harry very nearly thought that all was well with the world. The coldness in the air shocked him, and he knew that a few of the group would be lost to Dementors as well as the Death Eaters, Giants and whatever else Voldemort had in store. The arrival point had been calculated by getting one of them to over fly the forest and see at which they could apperate away again. The entry point was deep inside, and the first group had secured a perimeter before the rest came. After that, they had been shuttled to the edge of the forest by brooms, and they had all looked at the castle. It had been determined that Voldemort had most likely not thought of people coming through the forest, but whatever it was, they had had assembled for the final assault.

"You know that this is it" Harry said. "Once we step forward, we have to keep on going until we reach Voldemort and take him out. None of our lives count at all until we get that bastard and kill him for good this time. Watch for Giants, Werewolves and other creatures… we don't know what Voldemort has kept back, but we know it should be a large force – and that isn't counting the Death Eaters… Lets go…" and with that, they began the advance.

# # # # #

"My Lord…" began a Death Eater.

"What is it?" asked Voldemort.

"There is a large group moving from the forest. It is made up of students, and we believe that Harry Potter is with them" and Voldemort chuckled at this.

"And so it begins… Call all my Death Eaters to arms, and inform the giants and werewolves that they shall be needed this night" he ordered.

# # # # #

"I think we've been spotted" said Hermione grimly as Death Eaters poured out of the castle and down the grounds – firing spells as they did so.

The group battled hard, but losses were sustained and Harry wondered about if they should fall back to the forest where the odds would be more even. This idea was dismissed when the ground shook and the Giants came lumbering towards them. Harry cursed as he ran through the various scenarios, and, in the end, he had people start attacking the Giants with Blasting Hexes as they continued the battle. When the battle became almost too much, Harry sent up three red flares and out of the forest came all those that could ride a broom. Sitting behind them was another person who fired spells off at any target they could see. Five of the brooms – all ridden by Muggle Borns - peeled off and began strafing the ranks of Death Eaters with blasting spells. The brooms swung this way and that as they brought death from above and this spectacle caused some of Voldemort's followers to freeze as they saw death coming at them from the air. Several of them attempted to bring them down with killing curses, and in some cases this worked, but the broom flyers were all experienced flyers and they dodged the spells for the most part. However, killing curses flew from the windows of the castle and swatted most of the flyers from the skies like flies. Harry cursed as he saw more good people die without having a chance to return fire. The remaining flyers pulled back to a distance and began landing to take care of their wounded. Then one rider gathered all the brooms he could handle and began flying back towards where the spells had come from. He dodged the attempts to knock him from the sky, and he ploughed into the wall in a suicide manoeuvre. The detonation of so many magical items made that section of the upper west side third floor corridor explode in a ball of fire, smoke and expulsion of debris. This caused the fighting to pause for a few seconds.

"MOVE MOVE MOVE!" Hermione shouted as they rushed onwards.

# # # # #

"They'll be getting slaughtered out there" said Luna. Parvati looked around at those in various states of injuries and thought about that situation.

"There are more then twice the number that left here present. We could take those that have healed or who are just lightly wounded. If we don't go, then all that we battled for could be lost" and her friend nodded.

"But there are too many badly wounded to leave on their own… we have no over option" and Luna pointed up at the ceiling.

"I dare say that you are right" Parvati said.

"That is why I was put in Ravenclaw" Luna smiled. They made their way up to the room holding two of their most valuable prisoners.

#

"Which ever way this final battle goes, we're done for" said Daphne.

"I know" agreed her sister. "If Potter and his friends win, then we will face trial and a lot of time in Azkaban. If the Dark Lord wins, then we'll be either killed by the remnants of Potter's army or by Voldemort when the Death Eaters get us" Astoria looked out at the window that held a moonlit night outside.

"That much is certain" Daphne said. "At least if Potter wins we have a chance of getting our lives back again. Azkaban will not be the ruin of us, and even though our family vaults will be seized, I am sure that we can make a little money to get by with" and Astoria just nodded as the lock to their door was undone and the door opened.

#

"We have come here to ask you something" began Luna.

"Harry has gone to take Hogwarts, and we think that he does not have enough to get the job done. We are going to lead those of us that are healed and not too badly wounded to Hogwarts to boost the numbers" Parvati said.

"But that would leave the severely injured here with no help. What we propose is to let you out of here, and to tend to the wounded. The doors and windows will be sealed as will the floo to stop your possible return to the dark side of the force" continued Luna. "We'll let you out if you agree to these terms" she added. Astoria and Daphne looked at each other before looking at the pair before them.

"We'll do it" said Astoria. The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw nodded and led them out their room and downstairs. They informed them about the treatment of each of the injured, cursed and dying before taking the healed and lightly wounded to join the fight. The Greengrass sisters looked at each other and then around at the blood that pooled on the floor, and tried not to retch at the smell that assaulted their noses.

"Well at least we are out of the room…" Daphne said grimly.

# # # # #

"Harry is leading an attack on Hogwarts. This could be the chance we are looking for. While everyone is concerned with Hogwarts, we will take the Ministry"

# # # # #

"We're dead" Harry said.

"Looks like it" Hermione agreed.

"We're going to die…" muttered Dean.

"And there isn't a grander night for it" said Seamus. "I don't know about you, but I'm all up for a suicide attack on the enemy. At least we'll take some of those bastards with us" and they gathered together before charging the mass of Death Eaters, Giants and Werewolves. They had almost reached them, when a barrage of spells felled the last two Giants who made the ground shake with their bodies as they hit the ground. Both of them had remained out of the fighting until later on.

"The others… they've bloody well come!" yelled Neville, and the final charge turned into one of a simple fight with no holds bared. Foul curses flew out from both sides, and many people died silently or in a bloody explosion of body parts and internal organs. A lot of good people died, and this included Dean, Seamus, Neville, Luna, both Weasley Twins, Padma Patil and a black haired Gryffindor Harry was sure he had seen before. He had taken out six Death Eaters by himself by overloading the magic in his wand and then running towards them. The crater was several feet deep.

"That was the last of them" said Hannah.

"I know" said Harry.

"Should we regroup?" asked Susan.

"If we pull back now, then we may never have a chance of defeating Voldemort" Harry said.

"Harry is right you know" Hermione said.

"We press on" and Harry led the way in storming the castle itself. Heavy fighting took place here, and parts of the stone wall became missiles at the attackers. They pushed on and kept on losing many people to spells and curses.

"Where do you think Voldemort will be?" asked Parvati. More anger raced through her as she had lost her sister as well as her lover

"The Great Hall I suspect" said Harry.

# # # # #

"What happened?"

"We took the Ministry with a few losses. We stunned everyone we could and then put them in the Ministry cells"

"What of Harry Potter?"

"As far as I know, he is still fighting"

"Well he'll take out Voldemort, I know that much. After he is dead, we shall sieze the Potter vaults and take the money for ourselves"

# # # # #

"Just relax" said Astoria to a wounded girl. As she spoke, she felt a wave of magic go through the room and felt the wards go down.

"One or both of them must have been killed" Daphne said. Astoria froze for just a few moments and then grabbed a few bottles of the nearest potions and wandlessly and wordlessly called for her wand. "Where are you going?" asked her sister.

"To war" and Astoria reversed a Portkey and vanished.

# # # # #

"My Lord!" a battered Death Eater rushed into the hall.

"What is it?" asked Voldemort.

"Potter and his friends have broken through our lines and are almost upon us. We must flee at once or…" whatever he was going to say was cut off as Voldemort killed him where he stood.

"I will never run from a brat like Potter!" he roared, and at that moment the doors blew apart.

"That makes it easier for me to get to you" Harry said as he walked through the dust and debris with others behind him – wands out and all pointing at Voldemort. "Harry Potter, Rebel At Large" he said with a flourish.

"So, Potter, we see each other plain" Voldemort said. "You were admittedly brave in launching an assault with those who have followed you…" the sounds of fighting from both inside and outside the castle drifted into the Great Hall. "You escaped me by a pure accident. I will not let you be so lucky again… _CRUCIO_!" and Harry dodged this, and the battle was begun. Spells flew this way and that as the two sides fought each other in an all out assault. Whoever won this fight would decide the way the magical world was to be run.

# # # # #

Astoria found herself arriving at the outer edge of the forest, and all of her senses became overloaded at the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of war. She looked at the badly damaged castle which was on fire and billowing great plumes of smoke as Harry's army retook Hogwarts room by room. She noticed that the remaining broom flyers had set up a kind of patrol around the grounds, and that spells went both up and down as they spotted Death Eaters, werewolves and anything else that Voldemort had brought to his cause. The girl rushed to the castle and picked her way over the bodies of the dead, over the debris, walked through the pools of blood and searched for any signs of Harry and the others. She came upon a few fighters who seemed dazed and confused.

"Do you know where Harry Potter went?" Astoria asked them.

"He headed towards the Great Hall" replied one of them. "He said he had to get to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and stop him at all costs" he added. Astoria handed over some of the potions she carried and headed off in the direction of the Great Hall.

# # # # #

"You know that only one of us can win" Voldemort taunted him.

"I intend for that to be me" Harry replied.

"You fool. There is no chance that you can best me" replied the Dark Lord

"There is, but maybe you are right. Maybe I _will_ die. That is a price I am willing to pay in order to defeat you" and Harry cast a rapid series of spells which Voldemort dodged.

"You can not hope to defeat me" and he sent Harry flying into a stone wall. He advanced on Harry and towered over him. "So ends Harry Potter's life…" and Voldemort raised his wand – ready to cast a spell.

"Not right now it isn't" said a voice, and a bolt of energy hit Voldemort and sent him flying away from the fallen Gryffindor. The girl came into the hall, and went to stand by Harry and Hermione whom had come to aid Harry getting up.

"Who are you, little bitch?" Voldemort spat as he stood up.

"My name is Astoria Greengrass, and I am a member of Harry Potter's army" the girl said defiantly.

"So you are one of the traitors who has moved over to his side… well no matter. I will kill you as soon as I have dealt with Potter" Voldemort cackled.

"Think again!" Harry yelled, and he dived at Voldemort in an intensified assault.

"You're anger makes you more like me then you can imagine. Stop fighting me, and I may take you as my protégée" said Voldemort.

"We will _never_ be alike" Harry said, and he attacked Voldemort with the aid of Hermione, Astoria, Hannah and Susan. The four girls attacked with everything that they had, and Voldemort was forced to divert his attention from Harry to fight these four too. He didn't see Harry taking a breath to collect all of the anger and hatred within him. As he watched, Voldemort snarled and sent the four spinning backwards with sickening crunches. He hoped that none of them had died, and that the broken bones could be dealt with.

"Now it is just you and me" Voldemort said, turning to face Harry.

"You invade our homes, you kill our families, you rape and pillage for what you want. You rank among the most evil men in history. And you know what…?" he whispered with his head hung low.

"What is that?"

"I have had enough of _YOU_!" and Harry snapped his wand out and cried out. "_AVADA KEDAVRA_!" and there was a tremendous explosion from Harry's wand, and the killing curse shot forth and hit Voldemort square between the eyes. The force of the impact through him backwards again, and the fighting in the hall stopped to see Harry leap forward and cut Voldemort's head off. The next moment had Death Eaters scream in pain as the link to their master had vanished, leaving some magically drained. Hermione and the others rushed up to Harry and hugged him tightly.

"You did it" Hermione said as she hugged and kissed him openly.

"We did, didn't we" he replied. The fighting still went on in various parts of the castle, and Harry gave orders that prisoners were to be taken alive – though in what medical state was left up to the persons apprehending them. After he did that, Harry turned to Astoria who shivered in the coldness of the now early morning air. "You left the house" he said. "You left the wounded, you took up your wand, came here… and most likely saved my life" Harry looked at her with a small expression of thanks. "Thank you" he said. "You and your sister will be set free of sorts, but you must be stay with one of us because some people might not want to see you and your sister alive" and Astoria smiled and thanked Harry from the bottom of her heart. She handed out the potions that she still carried, and these were taken as Parvati came running into the hall..

"The Order has the Ministry" she called to him. "They went in while it was occupied by little more then a token guard, and they are saying that everything is to go back to how it was" the girl added.

"I think" Harry said, dropping Voldemort's head into a conjured box, "That we shall have to partake of a little tradition" he finished.

"What is that?" asked Astoria.

"Rebelling" Harry explained.

"Oh… so what were we doing for the last few months?" asked Susan.

"We know how many there are in the Order" Harry said. "Even though most of us are dead, dying or badly wounded, we still have enough to do what we need to do" and he looked at Parvati. "Until you know otherwise, you are in charge here. Get the Hospital Wing secured and get the wounded there. I am sure it will bring a relief to the medical help back home. We should be getting off" and Parvati waved them goodbye after hugging each of them before she went to her task.

# # # # #

"So what is the plan?" Susan asked.

"We apperate inside, and do a coup" Harry said.

"And if people try to stop us?" questioned Hannah.

"Then we shoot to kill" Harry said simply. "We have no way of knowing if they are from the Order or Voldemort's followers trying to impersonate members of the Order…" he stopped speaking and moving as if in thought.

"What's wrong?" asked Hermione quietly.

"Nothing much, but I just had a thought. The Order can either use a Polyjuice Potion, or have Tonks change into my appearance and get you detained" and this made sense from Harry. Whjile the Order was supposed to be on the side of the Light, they were not beyond devious means.

"So we have to set something up that they don't know about" Hannah said. Everyone stood around trying to think of something that the Order didn't know about Harry or his friends.

"I'm wearing a polka dot bra" said Astoria. The others looked at her in surprise before comprehension dawned on Hermione's face.

"There is no way in hell that the Order could tell what Astoria is wearing _under_ her clothes" she said.

"Then it's agreed? Astoria's bra will be the agreed upon password… never thought I'd say that!" Harry smiled for the first time since the battle had begun hours before. "Though just in case they get lucky, ask them where the book of Pornography is in the library at home. The answer you should give is 'Third bookcase, second shelf, next to the book on trains'. Just in case they get lucky though" he added. They all nodded, took out their wands and then apperated – or side a long for Astoria – to the Ministry. A few bodies were scattered around the Atrium – both Order and Death Eater alike, but they encountered nobody until moved towards the lifts. There was a little corridor that Harry remembered running to one side; he thought it was a service passage of some kind. The group moved down that, and ended up down a deserted corridor which was very dark. Harry decided to go back to the Atrium and then have a look around.

"I wonder where they all are" said Hannah. "If the Order is in control of the Ministry, then why didn't we see anyone on guard? I would have thought two or three people there at least" she added.

"I came with my Aunt here a few times over the summers, and I remember her telling me that most of the offices were located on the middle floors. I bet the Order has taken those floors that they actually need right now" Susan said. "And with the Ministry in the state it is in, I bet the detection charms and spells are not working properly or even removed" and Hermione agreed.

"So you are saying that they don't know we are here?" she asked.

"I don't think so" confirmed Susan.

"Then why don't we go and get some back up from Hogwarts, and then we'll take the Ministry by force" Harry said. They secured the Atrium whilst Astoria flooed to Hogwarts only to come back with a dozen people ten minutes later.

"Parvati holding up?" asked Hermione.

"Good enough" said Astoria. "She says we lost loads more people, but that is only to be expected after all" and there was an agreement. Harry nodded before turning to the group at large.

"Now listen up!" he shouted. "The Order is in control of thee Ministry at the moment. The senior staff have decided that we shall perform a coup, and take the Ministry ourselves. Our aim is to remove whoever is in power from the position of Minister, and then to run the country ourselves. What we shall do is travel up to the Department offices first, and clear those one by one. Once we have cleared them, then we shall advance on the Minister For Magic's office and remove the Order by force. We need to take the Order plus the Aurors who have supported them alive. There are no objections to anyone falling to collateral damage… any questions? No? Well lets load into the lifts and go" and they did so – the first lift going down ten seconds before the other one in case they met trouble. They met nothing, so Susan guessed they were running the entire place from the Minister's office. Harry pressed the buttons for both lifts, set them to go down to the Minister's floor and then jumped out before they went down.

# # # # #

"That's funny" said Ginny.

"What is?" asked an Auror.

"Both the lifts just opened but there was no one there waiting, and no one got out of them" she said.

"The lifts have been acting funny ever since we came here" said the Auror. "You-Know-Who was not so keen on maintaining this place. And the battle was hard enough after all…" and Ginny decided that there was more to do then worry about broken lifts.

# # # # #

Harry was glad that Susan remembered about the emergency stairs, so they crept up silently, and arranged themselves with wands out and ready for the off.

"Now remember what the targets are" said Hannah to the others.

"And… GO!" Hermione shouted, and they poured out of the door and into the corridor.

"HARRY'S ARMY!" Harry shouted. "HALT AND STAY WHERE YOU ARE. PUT DOWN YOUR WANDS OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE!" and the stunned Order members and Aurors reacted with spells. Harry's side, more battle hardened then them put up a good fight, and several spells made a dozen Aurors eligible to join the headless hunt. "Take the Order members and Aurors alive!" Harry shouted. He took great delight in storming into the office surrounded by his friends, Astoria and a few others that tagged along.

"Harry… we're so glad that you are alive" Lupin began.

"Odd that you didn't care that much about me when I was in Voldemort's place" said Harry.

"Well that was a mistake" said Lupin with a slightly smaller smile then he had had moments before. "now you can come back to us and marry Ginny"

"Ooh yes, Harry" Ginny cooed. "We can get married, and I can spend money to get everything perfect for our family" she added.

"Not bloody likely" Harry said, and he turned to the taggers on. "Take these under arrest, place them in the cells and then come back here" and he looked at Tonks. "You are hereby relived of command of the Auror Corp. You are also removed from duty pending a court martial. Take her away" and Harry watched and heard as Tonks was bound and taken away – screaming all the time that this couldn't happen. "As for you…" Harry spun to Lupin once more. "I have been told a lot about what you did and didn't do during the war. My parents would be ashamed to have you as a friend, let alone Sirius! I see you've taken over here, well let me tell you this. I'm from Yorkshire, and where I come from we sort out our problems ourselves. We are removing you from power. I will run this country's magical side with the rest of the group I have… take him away" and Lupin was led away like the others to await trial. They watched as the Order and members of the Auror Corp were taken away, and then Harry moved to behind the desk and sat in the chair.

"As good as you thought?" Hermione asked.

"Too many stains" Harry replied, and Hermione knew he didn't mean the marks on the chair.

"So what do we do now?" asked Astoria.

"We only took those members of the Order that were here. There will be others out there, and members of the Aurors too. We need to get them under control and quickly. We go back to Godric's Hollow and use the radio there to speak. Susan, I think you know the override code don't you?" Harry asked, and Susan nodded.

"The radio is no problem" Hermione said. "But deciding what to say and then do is another" she added.

"Well as we are in charge of the Ministry, couldn't we shut down all forms of travel apart from broom flying?" Hannah suggested.

"A lock down you mean? That's a great idea" Harry said. "We can declare ourselves the legitimate government and declare emergency law in the magical world. We give them an hour or so to get wherever they want to be, and then we shut everything down except for us and connections to St Mungos" and he looked at the only Slytherin in the room. "You stay here" he said. "Unless you get told otherwise, using the codeword, then you are to stay here in charge. It will be a near enough empty building, but you are in charge" and they left a startled Astoria and headed up to the Floo points. As they did so, Harry suddenly began to laugh.

"What's so funny?" asked Hermione.

"I just thought, what if the muggle Prime minister calls? He'll be surprised to have a 'Tori' in power so soon after their defeat!" and Hermione began laughing too.

# # # # #

"Dean kept this in good condition considering we didn't have a source of spares" Hannah said.

"Yeah" said Harry, "And we'll be using this until we can get the WWN up and running again. I'm just glad that we have both the override key and the crystals to do it with" and he adjusted a few settings and consulted a handbook that Dean had made in a muggle exercise book. "I think that does it" he said, and he sat down in front of the microphone. "Whats the code?" he asked Susan.

"I could be giving you state secrets" Susan said.

"And we _are_ the government" Harry told her, and then the smile that crept on her face told him she was joking.

"The code is Wolf 359" Susan said each part carefully to give Harry a chance to enter it in correctly. The radio hummed as soon as he had entered the code. Every house and place of work that had a wireless was now on. When Harry spoke, everyone would hear his voice, even if they attempted to switch him off.

"Good Morning" Harry said. "I am Harry Potter. A few hours ago, myself and a large number of others staged an assault on the terrorist known as Lord Voldemort. We have been attacking him for a number of months, and this morning launched the final assault. We attacked Hogwarts directly, and took many casualties. However, I can reveal to you now that Voldemort is dead, and that his forces are defeated" Harry paused to let the information sink in. "A short time ago, we were informed of the take over of the Ministry by a group of Aurors and an organisation called the Order of the Phoenix. Myself and the most senior of the group that attacked Hogwarts went directly to the Ministry where we have removed the group from power. I am declaring that the Liberation Army to be in power, with myself in charge as head of the Magical part of Britain. As the Minister for Magic, I am hereby declaring a State of Emergency. Until further notice, all forms of transportation will be cut in one hours time. There shall be no public gatherings of any kind, shops and businesses will remain closed until futher notice as well. All forms of public communication will be suspended until further notice" Harry paused again to take a breath. "All members of the Order of the Phoenix are to hand themselves in to the Ministry as should any Auror listening. If they or anyone else is seen outside in the open, then they will be classed as enemy combatants. These will be dealt with by deadly force which is now authorised. Anyone found looting homes will face a summery execution. More news shall be conveyed to you by these means. You have one hour to return to your homes or to a location of your choice starting from… now" and Harry turned off the radio and began a timer.

"Wonderful speech" said Hermione.

"Brought a tear to my eye" said Hannah.

"Bravo… oh, bravo" Susan said.

"Oh be quiet" Harry muttered. They met with Daphne Greengrass who now had some help in treating the wounded. She reported that hundreds had died here, and that their bodies were being kept in the cellar until something could be arranged. Harry said he would send Astoria back to Godric's Hollow, but that they could come and go from the room whenever they wished.

# # # # #

Before the hour was up, five dozen Order members and Aurors turned themselves in to the Ministry where each was tied up and questioned using Veritaserum. Those Aurors who had been hiding and/or working with the Order were relieved of duty and placed in cells. Once it had become clear that the cells were over crowded, Harry ordered that some of them be sent home with their wands limited to simple household charms. When everything was locked down except for the members of Harry's group, Harry had no Aurors left at all. He was forced to shut down international travel and close the borders of magical Britain in order that a few of Voldemort's followers didn't attempt to get allies.

"What do we do?" asked Hermione.

"I plan to sleep for a while" said Harry, "And then we will begin trying the prisoners. I sent Hannah and Susan to kill the murderers and rapists at Azkaban, and to get rid of the bodies. Nearly all of them will be facing a long jail term or death" he added.

"Well I made you a bed in the Minister's office" said Hermione kindly. "We can send people out here and there where needed. Everyone knows your Shoot to Kill policy, and we've already eliminated a dozen Order members and Aurors who refused the surrender order" and she led him back to the Minister's office where he fell into a deep sleep. Hermione watched him for a few moments before heading out to speak to Hannah and Susan who had claimed the abandoned Under Secretary's office for themselves.

"He asleep?" asked Susan.

"Yeah" replied Hermione. "So whats the total so far?" she asked.

"Two and a half thousand dead so far. That's over a thousand just on our side alone. The rest are made up of Death Eaters, Order members and Aurors who all refused the surrender order. Now that we have St Mungos running again, there are less and less deaths coming in" Hannah said.

"What about the Greengrass girls?" asked Hermione perching on the edge of the desk and reading a list of names and a few reports.

"Parvati is watching them at Hogwarts" said Susan. "We thought it might be safer there for them even though they turned to our side in the end, a lot of people don't know that. Last I heard, they have the whole of Slytherin to themselves" and she chuckled to herself.

"We got the potions ready yet?" Hermione asked.

"Give us another hour to be on the safe side" Hannah said. "We have to get this right, or they will be no use to us at all. Ginny Weasley is demanding to see Harry2 she added.

"She wont see him for a few hours yet" said Hermione sternly. "And she is likely to get what the rest of that lot get. She claims to be Harry's friend, but all she said was Harry was dead and that we shouldn't go looking for his body. I think she wanted the fame and money that came from being Harry's wife" and the other two girls looked at her sideways.

"As opposed to what you want from Harry?" Hannah said. "We've both seen and heard the things that you do for Harry" and Hermione slid off the desk and put the report down.

"I only supported Harry so I could own every bookshop in the land" and the bushy haired teen left the office to go about her work.

# # # # #

Ginny sat in the cells with Ron, her parents, Tonks and Lupin in adjoining and facing cells. She could hear the mad screaming of the Death Eaters, the shouts of the Aurors demanding to be let out, and threats from the Order to punish Harry after all they had supposedly did for his safety. Ginny was so deluded – along with the rest of the Order – that she couldn't understand why Harry was being so mean to her. She did have a thought that Harry was into kinky sex, and that he would come to 'interrogate' her later. The cell she was in was almost completely pitch black, save for the torch that burned a little way down the corridor.

"… and I agree" said Lupin's voice in the darkness. "He has suffered a lot over the last few months, and had to do so much by himself. I suspect that he doesn't know what he is doing. Once he has had time to think, I am sure he will let us go free" he added.

"And what about the plan?" asked Ron. He wanted his money so that he could buy the fastest broom on the market. He had supposedly suffered while being Harry's friend, but he had been comforted by being promised the Prefect and Head Boy positions and Harry's Firebolt.

"Everything will go" said Tonks.

'_I wouldn't count on it_' thought Hermione.

**A/N:**

**And back we go to a normal length chapter, with a few extra thousand words added for good measure!**

**I hope you enjoyed the battles in this update, and I look forward to reading your reviews. Tell me what you think to what Harry and group did.**

**There are two Star Trek refs somewhere in here, so see if you can spot them… Next chapter shall contain trials for nearly everyone not with Harry, the rebuilding of Magical Britain and what happens afterwards.**

**Next chapter may take some time to do as I am taking a week off so I can attend a meeting of Thomas The Tank Engine fans in York. Please look at my ff homepage for the next scheduled updates which shall include my lesser reviewed fanfics.**

**Regards**

**Pixel **


	9. Victory – But At What Cost?

**Victory – But At What Cost?**

Harry awoke a couple of hours later to discover a report sitting on the desk. He put on his glasses and read it. It was a report of the latest casualties, prisoners taken and those people killed while resisting arrest. Hermione had even set out a few comments about comments overheard while she listened in the cells.

"I need a coffee" he muttered.

"Good job I brought you one" said Hermione, and she came over and handed him the steaming mug. "I was thinking about something, so I worked out a plan" she added. Harry sat in the deep black leather chair which replaced the big red one that had been their before.

"A plan for what?" he asked.

"A plan for the trials" Hermione answered. "There are a number of terrible criminals in Azkaban, so I was thinking that we could put them through the Veil so we could free up space. The ones guilty of the multiple crimes can face the firing squad before being put through the Veil" and Harry thought it over before agreeing.

"What about our position?" he asked.

"The Ministry is secured quite nicely. There are about a dozen people sat facing the Apparition and Floo points with wands out. There are six people guarding the prisoners we have, and we managed to get the kitchen working once more" Hermione said.

"Good news" Harry smiled.

"As for the rest, there are ten squads of five people going around the country on mopping up duties, and St Mungo's is under armed guard. Those riders of brooms that survived have regrouped to mount a combat air patrol over Hogwarts. The only issue we have is a place called Gadaffi Lodge. It's a Death Eater place, but we can not Apperate or Floo there for some reason. I talked to the Goblins at Gringotts, and they think that you have to take possession of the place" Hermione looked over at him. "The trials have to come first" and Harry nodded.

"We'll do the first tonight" he said, and then he thought about Hogwarts. The school had been badly damaged in the attack, and in the hours that followed the final battle it had been examined and found to be unsafe to be in. Harry made up his mind to rebuild the school and to get decent teachers in to replace Snape, Dumbledore and McGonagall. He told his plans to Hermione.

"But the only qualified teachers were in the Order" she reminded him. "And we're not having those in again" and Harry nodded.

"But there was another school you know" he said.

"I thought Hogwarts was the only one in Britain" Susan said.

"Hogwarts is the only mixed school in Britain, but there used to be a school for witches only. It closed just before the war started, but I think I can call the teachers back and ask them to work at Hogwarts" Harry said, and with a smile he turned and went back into the Minister's office and started making a list.

"I never knew of a school just for witches" Hannah said.

"I bet that was Dumbledore's doing" Susan said. "We can check the archives for more information" and they agreed to do that after deciding who to try first that evening.

# # # # #

"I want a portkey to take me to Walker's Gate in five minutes" Harry ordered.

"I can't do that" said the portkey technician.

"May I remind you that we are under Martial Law, and that as such I can summarily execute you for failure to obey orders? Now I want that portkey in five minutes, and then I want you to call your relief and turn yourself in to the first member of my people your see. You are under arrest" and Harry casually withdrew his wand and pointed it at the man. He wasn't bothered by killing someone as he had done it many times now, it was just the paper work that was involved.

# # # # #

"Your proposal is most interesting, Mr Potter" said the woman. "I do admit that you tempt me. Closing the school was a great blow to me and my staff…"

"Madam, I have read about you in a number of books, and I wouldn't be here if I thought you would not be up to the job" Harry said. "You would have a more or less free reign in what you would do at Hogwarts, and the only time the Ministry would interfere would be in matters of dispute that you cold not solve. I am sure though that this will happen very rarely" he added. The woman looked over her glasses for a while before smiling and giving a nod.

"I had better prepare for September 1st then" she said. "I know Constance will be so happy to be teaching again, though she might not show it" and the woman thought for a moment. "Can I choose my own staff?" she asked Harry.

"Of course" said Harry, and they went over the names of several former students of the new Headmistress of Hogwarts.

# # # # #

Harry sat in the high throne chair in the deepest parts of the Ministry and watched as the prisoners were brought in one by one. He was flanked by Hermione and Parvati on one side and Hannah and Susan on the other. The first group were Aurors who ran away and hid with the order and didn't stand and fight.

"You are here today to face the charges of High Treason and Cowardice In The Face Of the Enemy. I have judged you all to be guilty as charged and sentence you to be executed by means of a firing squad" Harry said, and before the prisoners could react, the guards brought their wands up and cut them down. "Get rid of the bodies and bring in the next group" and the second group was brought in as he first lots bodies were taken to the Veil.

"Those people you saw taken away just now were executed because they failed to do their duty" Hermione said. "They ran away like you did because they wanted to save their own lives. However you have been found guilty of all the crimes we have found against you, and you are to be put to death" and the guards killed them like the first group. This went on for a number of hours before Harry called a pause for some refreshments and light snacks. After the final lot had been killed and disposed of, they broke up for rest before they switched to dealing with the Order. However, Harry decided to let them stew for a few months and put them in the Maximum Security cells at Azkaban, and coated the walls with rubber wallpaper just to be on the safe side.

# # # # #

It had taken a lot of work to get Hogwarts rebuilt and finished in time for the start of term. The new Headmistress had moved in with the staff from her old school along with some of her former pupils, and they had gone through the teaching plans drawn up by Dumbledore and his staff and nearly wiped it out. In its place was a much more balanced system of learning which Harry approved of. He had introduced the new staff to the few remaining staff from the old regime a week ago.

"I'd like to introduce the new staff of Hogwarts" he had said. "I'd like to welcome Amelia Cackle as the new head" and the woman stood up.

"Thank you, Mr Potter" she said. "I have had many, many years of teaching experience, but I never assumed that I would be teaching at Hogwarts. Seeing as the previous teaching staff has mostly… vanished, I have brought in my own staff to fill in. I have also invited some of my former pupils to join me. I have brought Miss Constance Hardbroom and Miss Davina Bat to teach along with Miss Imogen Drill. Miss Drill, you may be interested to know, is a non-magical person who is more then aware of our existence. She is the same as any of us except she can not cast any spells, although she can both make and use potions. I have also asked my former pupils Mildred Hubble, Maud Moonshine and Enid Nightshade to join my staff as both teachers of subjects, and also to head the various groups and clubshere at the school. Several of you are here only because you are the only qualified teachers in your subjects that are still alive. In your case, Madam Hooch, you shall report directly to Miss Drill as per Mr Potter's request. I hope that you will be able to work under these terms. If you find that you are unable to do so, then you may leave now" and Harry had known he had made the right choice.

Harry and the survivors of the final battle began to finish their educations, but Harry was still scared at the torture he had received from Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Out of them all, only Harry seemed to suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – or Shell Shock as they used to call it. Many a time he would curl up into a ball and start shaking and screaming if a door banged open, or stiffen at any number of sights, sounds and smells. Harry also had deep trust issues. He knew he could trust Hermione and the girls but couldn't trust anyone else. Disregarding what was the norm, he had claimed the old 5th year dorm as his own use which had made several students complain about the treatment he was getting. Some thought that he was getting special treatment because of status as Minister For Magic, but Hermione and the others had set them right – after a fair few fights.

As winter approached and the air grew colder, so did Harry's spirit. He did everything very mechanically from talking to people, to how he went about his school life. It was Hermione who figured out what it was that troubled Harry – the trial of those who had committed the greatest treason of all.

**A/N:**

**First of all, I know this is a short chapter, but the reason is that Destiny (my PC for those who don't know) decided to have a hissy fit and explode – yes, that's right explode – and the damage is quite severe. Given the amount of damage, it is unlikely that anything can be salvaged, but luckily I was working on this using my memory stick so at least this was saved. As a result, I will most likely not be able to begin writing until I know the full extent of damage and loss of memory. If the memory board is intact, then I might be able to retrieve the other things I was working on.**

**I can but hope…**

**I've recently gone back to my childhood and started looking at all the old shows I used to watch as a kid. As a result, there is a huge homage to the best pre-Harry Potter series that was ever made. I'm sure that UK readers will know it right away.**

**I hope to be back writing soon enough, but as I said, I do not know the damage made to my poor Destiny. I'm able to write on another computer of course, but it still doesn't work out.**

**Hope to be back soon**

**Pixel**


	10. Observing and The Gathering Of Unusual F

**Observing and The Gathering Of Unusual Friends**

_I'm certain that the war has changed Harry. I know it's changed everyone – I wouldn't have took a life if I could have helped it before this war – but Harry has changed the most. The torture has made him darker then his pre-war self. His mind though has suffered the most damage. Sometimes Harry can sit and look out of a window for hours, curl up in a ball and relieve the terrors he suffered at the hands of Voldemort and the Death Eaters, become cold and distant or just simply burst into tears for what had happened and keep apologising to the dead for the fact he couldn't save them._

Hermione had no idea as to what to do. If Luna had been alive, then perhaps he could have spoken to her – both knowing death from an early age. Then again, Luna would have proberly stripped naked and danced around him to clear away the Nargles or something like that! It was as she was reading about different ways to execute people in the muggle world that the idea came upon her. Lupin knew about the muggle world, and would use his last request in a way that would involve it. All Hermione had to do was to contact the most powerful person on the planet.

She looked up at that moment to see Harry climbing out of the common room window, and she dropped her back as she ran to grab him. On a bad day he had been known to go for a long walk off the short pier of the Great lake, or start to carry out his mornings whilst completely nude. Although this was bad in itself, Harry had had to receive medical treatment when one poor first year girl thought a certain part of Harry's body was a basilisk and attacked it with stunners. Hermione did her best to help Harry, but she knew that once the last of those who had failed him had been dealt with, he would get back to being a more-or-less normal Harry. The weekend of the trial had found the surviving members finishing preparations for the trial and Harry and group moving to Grimmauld Place. Harry had oddly been getting much calmer and more level headed as the date came nearer, and this pleased Hermione a great deal.

# # # # #

"Sir… we have a phone call for you" a Bishop said.

"Oh that'll be that pizza place again I expect" said the other man. "Honestly… You order one pizza from there and they ask you for permission to add your name to their leaflets…" the man muttered before sitting behind his desk. He reached out and picked up the phone and spoke after looking at the number of who was calling. "Vatican Taxi service" he called happily.

'_You sound to be in a good mood, Karol_' said the woman on the other end of the phone.

"Well you know… I'm a priest, so it comes with the job" the man chuckled. "And what can I do for you, Liz?" he asked.

"'_Well we have a bit of a problem, and I'm in need of your help_' came the reply.

**A/N:**

**Well I'll warn you now that if the next chapter doesn't lose me readers, then I don't know what will. I'll give you three clue 1) The Queen and the Pope together 2) A couple of assault rifles 3) The trials**

**#**

**I know I said it would be a little while before a new chapter, but I have news to tell and I didn't want to just post a chapter of A/N, so I wrote a little short one for you. Destiny has sadly been declared a complete loss and is dead. I could only save a few things like the on/off switch and the led lights. However, there was a first as Destiny must be the first PC to have ever been buried with a priest in attendance! I honestly tell the truth!**

**After that was done, I went out, shouted at the people who "fixed" her and said I was going to sue them for a number of things. Then I went and brought a new PC which I have named Symphony. I would ask you all to welcome her to the fanfic community.**

**Curaantly, she is in the middle of a total memory dump of information which at last check should take 120 hours to complete. Nearly everything was stored on various memory sticks or other things, but I lost the episodes of The Worst Witch that I had stored on her. So if anyone has complete episodes from Season 1, 2 or 3 that they can share in WMV or realplayer format then I'd be grateful. And before you ask it, the 90's tv homage in the last chapter was The Worst Witch based on the books by Jill Murphy. As I said before, I'm going back to the shows I love and this was one of them. To help you, the names of the people Harry asked for help staffing Hogwarts are all major characters. Another interesting fact, the actress that played Miss Hardbroom was offered a part in Harry Potter like hers in The Worst Witch, but turned it down – presumably a female Snape as has been rumoured.**

**Now I've looked and read all the TWW fics here, and there isn't a decent one. So I guess I'll have to write one then! Must have something to write after I finish this fic in a fortnight. The final chapter – Chapter 12 – will be at minimum of 20,000 words long and should be done for the middle of next month. The next chapter - chapter 11 - will be a standard 4000 plus word chapter**

**Hoping someone can help me with The Worst Witch episodes,**

**Pixel**


	11. Executions

**Executions**

As the time came around for the trial, Harry was seen to become a total wreck. Hermione and the other girls assured him that Lupin, the Weasleys, Tonks and the other senior members of the Order couldn't hurt him anymore. Harry knew this of course, but he was still unable to stop thinking of everything that the Order had done to him, and also the fact they knew quite well he was alive – they just didn't want him.

# # # # #

The trial was held in the same place where they had tried and executed lower members of the Order and most of the Aurors. Hermione though had done her research and had ordered two dozen large crosses to be made and installed in the courtroom. The tightest security precautions were put into place with the entire magical part of Britain under complete lockdown with regards to Floo and Portkey travel. The Knight Bus was currently parked under the battlements of Hogwarts with an armed guard on it. They had instructions that if they saw it moving, then they were to destroy it completely. Everyone had been told that if any witch or wizard was seen riding a broom, then they would be blasted out of the skies without warning. Any survivors would be sent to Azkaban for a minimum of ten years. The rest of the survivors of Harry's army guarded each and every way into the Ministry, and each and every way down to the trial room. The moment the prisoners were removed from their cells, the lifts were to be disabled from use.

"Third Floor – check in please" said Astoria.

"_Third floor – all is clear_" replied a disembodied head.

"Very well. Maintain watch and guard until you have new orders" and Astoria did the same checks for each of the floors of the Ministry. She and her sister had been retroactively made members of Harry's army as thanks for saving Harry's life, and both of them were doing the security while the surviving members of the senior staff presided over the trial.

"We had someone attempting to get in to London" Daphne said.

"What did you do?" asked her sister.

"Blew them apart – those were our orders" replied the elder girl. Daphne sat down at a desk and began to read the reports left for her. "I just wish that we could be down there to watch the trial" the girl added.

"We can watch the highlights later" Astoria said lazily.

# # # # #

"Bring forth the prisoners" Hannah ordered. A number of their group left through a thick wooden door, only to come back minutes later with the Order and Auror members in front of them at wandpoint. Each prisoner was dressed in an orange muggle boiler suit and had their wrists and legs tied and shackled. Each also wore a metal collar that had an overload of magic contained in it. In the unlikely event any of them managed to escape, the collars would lower the safeguards stopping the magic from detonating which would blow their heads off after first exploding their brains. It was proof to how far Harry and the others had gone to ensure that nothing would go amiss.

"I have a good mind to tear them apart with my bare hands" Harry said – anger rising in him.

"Harry try not to get yourself worked up" Hermione put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Watching them this way is so much fun. I promise that you can have fun later" she added. Each of the prisoners looked at the bench and then to the crosses. As they got secured to the cross, they all felt the magical drain on them. It slowly and painfully took away all their magic except the few bits they needed to live.

"We demand that you let us go!" shouted Lupin.

"You are in no position to demand anything, Professor Arsehole" Susan said icily.

"Harry?" Ginny whined. "Please let me go. We can live together for ever and ever and ever" but Harry simply stared her down.

"You twelve are here because you not only the senior members of the Order captured by ourselves, but you have committed the crimes that are the most serious. Not only did you commit the grievous crime of running away, but you are charged with Cowardice in The Face Of The Enemy, Failure To Obey Orders During Wartime, Failure To Assist Aurors In An Emergency, Theft, Impersonating An Auror… the list really does go on for at least a dozen pages" Harry slammed the five inch thick file onto the writing area before him with a **BANG**! "What a pitiful sight you are… and what a shit you've got me as a judge" he added.

"The Aurors among you were sworn to protect the public at all costs – even if that cost was your own life" Hermione said. "That oath did not mean that you could run away and hide like little children!" she thundered.

"The Order members of your sorry little group are just as bad. You were created not just to fight Voldemort, but also to protect Harry. If he had been killed then there would have been no way of winning" said Hannah.

"You all managed to have your families stay alive, and yet you didn't stop to help save others. And that applies to both Order and Auror alike" said Susan. "You failed your jobs" she added.

"You have all your family members alive" said Parvati slowly. "But I suffered the most out of all of us here at this bench. I lost my mother, my father, my sister and my lover. I nearly lost myself as well" and the anger swarmed through the girl.

"How could we fight?" asked Lupin, speaking from his cross.

"Cast spells at the enemy" Harry said, "Though I doubt that you would recognise the enemy if he came towards you dressed as Voldemort with a fifty foot neon pink sign above them saying _I AM YOUR ENEMY_!" he shook his head and looked at the Weasleys. "As for you… I never had a family. One that loved me anyways. I thought yourselves as the brothers I never had, the sister I never had, the loving parents to take over from those I can not remember clearly. I did everything that was asked of me in order to save you from Voldemort and his ilk, and this is how you was going to repay me? By not bothering to save me?" Harry was silent as he pushed the anger inside him down. Hermione took over for him until he was better.

"Among the simply fascinating things we discovered while going through your records, was a plan to take over everything that Harry owned. Indeed, you had banned him from going to Grimmauld Place which was rightly left to him. In fact, Harry told us that you, Mrs Weasley" and the woman cowered, "Had forbidden him to go to Gringotts to take his money from his own account. We managed to get hold of Harry's financial records after the defeat of Voldemort, and they tell us a very pretty picture" and Hannah took over at that point.

"Every year since before Harry arrived at Hogwarts, you were each paid 17,000 Galleons which increased to 25,000 upon his arrival. This went on every year until the year before the fall when it went up to 30,000. You were stealing money from Harry, and all the time you made complains about not having a lot of money" and the girl shook her head.

"Of course we took that money back" said Susan. "And we recovered items that you had sold from Harry's houses. You lot are the worst of the worst" she added.

"I wish that we could kill them now" said Parvati, "But it is almost time for lunch and I'm hungry. We'll be back later" and the five stood up and walked out without looking at the chained up group.

# # # # #

"What do you think Harry will do to us?" asked Ginny.

"I'm hoping he'll let us go and give back the money we had to take in order to keep him safe" said Tonks.

"He is just angry at the fact we had no possible way to save him, and the fact he was being kept under tight control for his own good" Lupin said.

"I'm hungry" complained Ron.

"And I'll make you a feast – just for yourself, as soon as we get out of here" said his mother.

"Do you think he will truly forgive us for what we had to do?" asked Mr Weasley.

"I hope so" said one of the Aurors.

# # # # #

The girls looked at Harry who was gazing deeply into his tea without blinking.

"Do you think he's alright?" asked Hannah.

"Doubt it" said Susan, "But he'll come round to being the same old Harry again" and Parvati sighed.

"One can only hope" said that girl. Hermione considered this for a moment before calling to Harry.

"I want to see them punished as much as you do, but why do you not realise that the war is over?" she asked. Hermione and the others did not expect an answer, so the fact they got one came as a surprise.

"Because I have to" he replied.

# # # # #

"We have decided on your punishments" Parvati said. "You are all of guilty of your crimes anyway" she added.

"We have sentenced you to death" said Harry, and the tied up persons before them blanched and went as white as snow covered snow. "However, the Killing Curse has become rather boring over the last few months, and pushing you through the veil doesn't hold much drama. Hermione came up with a great idea though" and he smiled for the first time that day.

"Muggles have a number of ways to kill people as a punishment. Beheading, Lethal Injection, Firing Squads and Hanging. I prefer the Firing Squad myself, but you see none of us have had muggle weapons training of this sort, so I called up two people I happen to know _do_ have it" and she pointed to the two cloaked figures standing by the doors. "You can take off your hoods now" and the pair did so to reveal the Queen of the United Kingdom and His Holiness The Pope.

"We're fucked" said Lupin.

"Oh but of course" said the Pope. He and the Queen dropped their cloaks to reveal that each had an automatic rifle.

"We're ready when you are" said the Queen. Harry smiled and nodded at the pair who waited for the former Aurors to be untied and put up against the wall.

"Trust your souls to God" said the Pope, "Because now your arse belongs to me" and with that, he and the Queen opened fire on the former Aurors. Harry and the girls, the rest of the prisoners and the members of Harry's army watched as the bullets ripped into them before the bodies slid down the wall leaving blood stains on the wall and the floor.

"One declares that was wicked" said the Queen, and she blew the smoke off her rifle before switching the magazine for a fresh one. She turned to face her companion and gave a regal smile. "'Trust your Souls to God because your arse belongs to me?' Where on earth did you get that one?" she asked him.

"Well I like to watch disaster movies" replied the Pope. "It gives me something to do between Sundays" he added, changing his magazine for a fresh one as well.

"Good shooting!" called Harry and the girls. The Weasleys, Tonks and Lupin looked on in horror as the bodies were floated out to presumably be put through the veil.

"Oh no…" Hermione read their minds quite well – having had time to practice. "We're cremating the bodies and then scattering the ashes between here and the Falkland Islands!" and then she went into a discussion with the other four. After a while they sat up and looked at the remaining lot.

"I think we'll have you two next" said Susan pointing at Remus and Tonks. They both knew that there was no chance of them escaping, so they didn't bother to resist being put up against the wall. But instead of giving the order to fire, both she and her best friend cast spells and a light Jazz tune filtered into the room. Harry recognised it as something from New Orleans.

"Nice choice" said Hannah. "You can pick your targets and fire at will" she told the Queen and the Pope. The pair switched to three round bursts and then proceeded to shoot various body parts. Tonks and Lupin screamed in pure and **unadulterated **rage because as the bullets slammed into knees, arms, shoulders, and chests. When they came down to the last burst, they walked up to the pair, put the muzzles on their foreheads and fired. All the Weasleys did a simultaneous vomit which Harry had to admit was impressive.

"And now it comes down to these scum" said Parvati, pointing at the Weasleys.

"Um…" said Hannah. "Might as well kill the adults" she shrugged, but this time they had a different method of killing. Once the rounds had been used, the five summended them back out again so they could be reused. Then both Mr and Mrs Weasley were given intensifying charms to increase the pain they felt whilst actually staying awake. Mr Weasley was the first to die from blood loss. Harry though took personal and sadistic delight in walking over to Mrs Weasley, and, with all his strength, snapped her neck. Once he was sure they were dead, Harry cast fire spells on both elder Weasleys and allowed Ron and Ginny to watch their parents bodies burn into ashes before they got taken away with the bodies of Tonks and Lupin. Ron and Ginny watched the room empty and then turned to see Harry, Hermione, Hannah, Susan and Parvati advance in skirmish order with wands out in front of them. Both the youngest Weasleys had lost all control of their bodies – something Harry and the others could tell from the smell.

"Are you going to kill us?" asked Ginny. She thought the answer was going to be yes.

"Am I going to kill you?" Harry seemed to debate it, but the others knew otherwise having discussed this at great length. "No, Ginerva. No… I am not going to kill you. You are still underage – just. Now Ron, on the other hand…" and Ron had just enough time to comprehend what was about to happen to him before he was hit by a barrage of spells with the five wands.

"What are you going to do to me?" asked Ginny as she looked at her dead brother who still hung by the chains on the cross. She feared that Harry was going to rape her repeatedly.

"I wouldn't touch you with a barge pole" Harry said, reading her mind like Ginny would have read a book. "You will be taken away for questioning and drugged to check all the information you gave us was correct. After this is done, you will be taken to Azkaban and put in maximum solitary confinement for the rest of your life. You know what that means?" he asked and Ginny nodded. "It means that you never see the light of day again. You will never speak to another person in your life again. I will give orders that if you attempt to speak to anyone, then you will be killed at once" and Harry removed the chains and handed her over to the waiting group. "Take her away" and Ginny was taken away to be cleaned up so she was less offensive to be around. When she saw him start to shake, Hermione conjured up a chair for him to sit in, and Harry fell back into it and fell into a deep sleep. Everyone was worried about him, but a simple check proved that he was simply exhausted.

#

Now that the trials were finally over, Harry seemed to get back to his cheerful self, though once in a while became slightly downcast and moody. The surviving senior staff was all having tea in the girls' dorm when Hermione asked him a question.

"Why do you come up with tactics for fighting battles?" she asked. This was something Harry did now and again. None of the girls expected an answer, so it was a surprise that they did get one.

"Because I know only one tune, Hermione Granger… And I can't dance to any other" and with that Harry unexpectantly curled into a ball on an unoccupied bed – formerly Lavender's – and started sobbing his heart out. Hermione was very tempted to look into the business of raising the dead so she could kill Lupin, Tonks and the others all over again.

**A/N:**

**Although I said it would be a normal sized chapter, I honestly couldn't think what else to put down, so I've decided to finish here. I'll make it up next chapter, but to make up I have the first chapter of my new Harry Potter / Worst Witch crossover fic. Talking of The Worst Witch, there is a homage to it in this chapter. Anyone care to guess? I'm sure wonderbee will get it at least - maybe Submarauder too or his daughter!**

**Regarding the firing squad – lets just say that I've pissed off the Catholics and lost any chance of going to heaven!**

**Regards**

**Pixel**


	12. These Were The Stories

**These Were The Stories**

(**WARNING – THERE WILL BE TEARS DURING THE READING OF THIS CHAPTER. PLEASE HAVE AN ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF TISSUES BEFORE STARTING TO READ**)

"With nothing to hold him back, Harry threw himself into his school work with vigour and Quidditch became his second love after Hermione. Harry and the survivors of the group that had helped to nurse Harry back to health after Hermione had saved him were as close as you could get. However, the horrors of war stayed with them for a long time afterwards, and when there was the sound of breaking glass, exploding stone work or other such loud bangs, they would all take out their wands and assuming fighting stances. Considering the months of hell they had been through, they kept achieving top marks throughout the rest of their school years with ease – Defence Against The Dark Arts giving them 100% marks on every test they took.

The group became Prefects with Harry and Hermione becoming Head Boy and Girl during their final year. They had an odd way of arriving at Hogwarts, and it would go down in school legends as the first time that pupils had arrived via muggle parachute after diving out a plane from 25,000ft.

Achievements came to them like metal to magnets, and the Quidditch and House Cups were won for Gryffindor every year – followed in second place by Hufflepuff. On their final day at Hogwarts as students, everyone had gathered on the lawn to present the group with their graduation certificates and a Special Award For Services To The School after Mildred discovered that they hadn't got that reward after they got nearly everything else in the bag. Hermione graduated top of the year with Harry one point behind her with the others. During the ceremony, Harry dropped to one knee and proposed to Hermione there and then. She of course accepted his offer at once. After spending a week at Godric's Hollow doing nothing much except laze around in the summer sun, the group went on a three month trip around the world before returning to Britain in time to see Miss Cackle return to the school she loved the most – Cackle's.

As for the group…

Susan followed her Aunt into politics the hard way, and worked her way up the ranks to become head of the Auror Corp and head of the DMLE by the time she retired in 2148. She died several years after that with her wife of many years in 2153, Hannah, by her side, Harry and Hermione along with a number of their children and people who weren't. Over the years, a few purebloods who held strong views on witches emerged and outright banned witches from marrying each other, so the group had flown to Holland and had the service down there.

Hannah always had a kind soul to children, and she opened a home for the many orphans and the unwanted left behind after the war. When news of her marriage to Susan had leaked, a number of Aurors had been sent to arrest them both, but one call from Hannah had Harry, Hermione and Parvati brandishing their revolvers at them and telling to get lost – but not so politely. Hannah also worked hard with Hermione to get laws changed which said that pureblood families could get rid of their daughters with no questions asked about it. She died two years after Susan did, and some say it was a broken heart because she was never the same after the death of her wife. She was buried next to her wife in the Abbott family plot with their children, Harry, Hermione and Parvati in attendance.

Parvati studied hard to become a magical lawyer, and set up her own practice which dealt with cases of victimisation, racism, and discrimination. She also gave a lot of her time to helping with the home. Her family tried to marry her off to a wealthy Indian suitor, but she cut all ties with them after what had happened with between her, her twin and the family. She eventually married a muggle and had several children with him. However she never stopped loving Lavender and when she died in 2156, Harry and Hermione ensured she was buried next to her. The Patil family had attempted to claim the body for cremation in India, but the pair had flatly refused this to happen and carried out Parvati's wishes – inviting the family to take her at their own peril.

Daphne and Astoria were treated with a lot of suspicion during their lives, but both became Aurors and worked in cases involving muggles. Both were found dead though in 2057 naked in bed and in each others arms. Rumours of an incestuous relationship had been voiced several times, and the rumour mill got it right for a change.

As for Harry and Hermione… well they married one year after they graduated and went on honeymoon with the other three guarding them from possible attackers. Hermione became involved in the creation of new laws and was elected to serve as a judge in 30 consecutive sessions of the Wizangamot based on the fact she was known to be fair to all. She stood for Minister and won the post that she held for over 50 years, and it became known as the second golden age of Magical Britain. She died in 2161 just after having an orgasm while making love to Harry. Harry would later say it was how she would have wanted to go…

Harry didn't know what to do with his life. He hadn't expected to survive the war, so he went to all the places he had never been to while living with the Dursleys. Once the three page list was complete, he took to helping Hannah and Susan to run the children's home. He spent many years doing it, and only left when he took on the post of DADA teacher for one year at the request of the Ministry when the previous applicant retired. He loved flying though, and he created the _Devastator_ and _Marauder_ class of broomstick which became the first to exceed the speed of sound. He lost his mind for a couple of months after Hermione's death, and their children attempted to put him in a home for demented old folk. He cut them out of his life, but later made up with his three daughters. Although he spent a lot of time at home, he could always be counted on to watch any Quidditch match involving his much loved and favoured Gryffindor. He often comes to just sit in his old dorm and think. His public appearances, other then Gryffindor matches are quite rare now, but the last survivor of the 2nd Dark War occasionally speaks to warn of the dangers of complacency regarding followers of the Dark Arts" the old man looked at the two young teenagers sat in front of him.

"How… how do you know all this?" asked the girl.

"You had to have done your research on some of the more personal details about everyone" said the boy.

"Where did you get them?" the girl quizzed the man.

"Ah, yes…" the old man said with a croaking chuckle, "There was something I nearly forgot to mention. You've listened to my story now for over three hours now, and you don't even know who I am"

"Who are you" asked the pair, expecting him to be one of the many people claiming to be a child of the Heroes of Hogwarts and Britain.

"I'm not sure if you know of my name, for I have not done much in the way of anything special, but you may call me Harry Potter…" and Harry watched with a pleasure as the jaws on both teens dropped.

"Radcliffe! Watson!" a tall man in dark purple robes came towards them in the library at Hogwarts. "You are in trouble for missing both your Charms lesson and Muggle Studies. You will both serve detention this evening for this" and Harry tutted loudly.

"You skipped your lessons?" he said. "You blaggards… you scoundrels. Why, in my day pupils were hung up in the dungeons for less then that" and he laughed heartily. "They were helping an old man. I think we can forget the detentions in this case, don't you, Professor Davis?" and the headmaster was forced to agree.

"If that is your wish, Sir" he said.

"Go on" Harry waved his hand is an exaggerated gesture. "Away with you, you rogues" and the two teens left quickly.

"I wish you wouldn't do that" said Davis. "You are an old man now, and you have to face it" he said. Despite pushing 193, Harry drew himself up to his full height and radiated the power that had made him famous.

"An 'old man' I might be, but I've forgotten more about life then you'll ever learn" Harry said, and Davis backed off several feet from Harry and offered his apologies. Harry kept him on edge for several long moments before accepting it and then watching him leave. He looked down at the round object in his hand and tutted once again. "Did I really just show the entire school their Headmaster handed his arse by an old man? Dear me…" and Harry cancelled the spell and went to watch his much loved Gryffindor play Slytherin.

#

Despite being older then everyone in Gryffindor combined, Harry was always most welcome in the common room when he dropped by and he took the offered glass of Butterbeer before heading up to the dorms – first the girls' dorm and then his own. He lay on his old bed, closed his eyes and let his mind drift back to happier days with Hermione and the others.

"Harry, you're always late" Hermione said to him.

"Well you know me…" Harry opened his eyes and looked at his wife.

"Hannah is cooking her famous stew again" Hermione held out her hand to help Harry get up off the bed. He felt younger for the first time in years, and a little light headed to boot. He happened to look down and saw himself lying on the bed with a still chest.

"Hang on" Harry said. "I've left my body behind" and Hermione kissed her husband in the lips tenderly.

"You'll won't be needing it" she said.

"No…" Harry said as he followed her to the whiteness. "I don't suppose I really do…"

**A/N:**

**Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Chapter Twelve of Dark Frontier which makes up the final chapter of this fic.**

**I wanted to try something different and this is the result. The final sequence with Harry talking to Hermione on his death is a homage to the final part of Watership Down where Hazel leaves his body behind to join a run of the great rabbit god (or at least that is how I interpret it).**

**This chapter also marks the end of something… not counting my crossovers, the one shots or True Friends 2 (on perma hold) this marks the last chapter of a Harry Potter fanfiction of a story that I am still writing. Rest assured though, that I will write more Harry Potter stories, but I'm taking time off to rest.**

**Before I go, I have news regarding something that happened to a fic in progress. As some of you will know, I lost all the fics I was working on. This chapter was done word for word from memory – a marvellous achievement. However, I accidentally uploaded part of Special Union 5 to the document uploader on this site so I have most of it safe!**

**I invite you all for the final time to review this fic.**

**Regards**

**Pixel **


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